Barbara, I have to give you whatever credit is deserved for my Pooling Colors Indira Gandhi Blossom scarf -- if I hadn't read your blog and seen the photo of your completed pooling colors scarf, I would have just kept going on my multi way. Question is, now that I did a turnaround, can I be an honorary member of the Pooling Colors Scarf knitalong? It's a significant deviation from the pattern, but it's definitely the same concept. I could have done a better job composing the photo, but that could be said of most of my photos.
The tip Barbara noted that was most useful to me was to vary my gauge in order to keep the colors lined up. On size 15 needles with a yarn as loopy as Blossom, that wasn't hard and unless you look really closely, nothing shows. I ended up looping yarn at the ends eight times in order to keep the colors straight, which won't be too much of a chore to clean up after I block it. My fear that it wasn't going to be very long was realized, but I dealt with that, effectively I think, by inserting a keyhole.
One decision left -- I haven't decided yet how to block it -- it's going to curl no matter what I do because it's straight stockinette except for 4 rows of garter stitch at each end. Not sure if I should give it a full bath or just steam it. My aversion to the full bath approach was cured in large part by the blogger who suggested using a salad spinner to get the excess water out of the garment rather than the spin cycle of my washer, which means trooping up and down the stairs or sitting in the basement waiting for the machine to run its course. I used the salad spinner on Seville Charlotte and it worked perfectly.
Wow, the scarf is beautiful! The pooling idea is really great and I'm glad to see that it can work on other yarns. It's definitely something I'll consider when I find myself drawn to variegated yarn. Congrats on converting the technique to your different pattern!
Posted by: alison | September 08, 2004 at 08:21 AM