Updates -- &-- Sad news

Sad news first, my beloved beagle Buddy died over the Laborday weekend.  (He is the one on the right of the photo hidding his face)  His passing has hit me pretty hard, he has been my little baby for over 10 years, the reason I smile out of the blue.  I have been pretty depressed and have not even realy touched my crochet hooks since.

BUT the birthday season (Nov-Jan) is comeing up on top of Christmas so I have been forcing myself to work on items.  I have a filet blanket in the works as a christmas gift, and I was thinking of some scarfs.        
           
I dont know if you guys have seen the craze that is resurrecting with variegated yarn, but I plan to try dipping into it.  Planned Pooling, where you work up the yarn with a pattern planned out - this tool is pretty useful once you understand out to use it.  The popular pooling trend right now seems to be argyle.

Here is an example of how I worked up a planned pooling with RHSS Neon's-

 So some tips on how to use this site- decide on the stitch/pattern you want to use to make your item.  Then chain all the way threw your first set of color changes (or in my case for this pattern 1/2 ((no stitch count as not all skeins are identical even in the same color way), you want to start your first row on a next color-- I plan on using the moss stitch (sc, ch) so I would start mine with ch 2 of  purple, then sc into the 4th chain from hook working across ending with a sc in the last color change that you want (for me its the orange), now to make sure you get the colors to cascade add 2 more stitches (or a less slanted version do just 1).

I got roughly 50 stitches into each color change in the pattern. I rounded up/down on a few colors that gave 48/52 in some spots but 50 in others.  So what you want to do is work up a few inches (4 at least) and count how many stitches you get in each color change and just plug them into the site, this way you dont need to know a chain/hook/tension/gauge as you will be working with the hook and tension you want. You will want to take your time, and be patient as it does not always work up properly the first try (trust me -.-) just make sure when you start your first row of work you start on the first color you list on the site.  You can always over chain your starting chain to do that, and just undo the extra once your finished.   This works best with color changes between 4-12 inches anything less and you only get about 2 stitches and it wont pool well, and more is more likely to result in stripes unless you work on a large piece.

I have not got a good sample worked up yet myself but I pick it up and play with it when I am feeling particularly sad to try and take my mind of things.  I am going to unravel what I currently have on my hook, and try to work it up again with a larger hook and see if that helps me get the pattern I want with the pooling with out having to work length wise.

 Last bit of news, I have managed to brake my ergo handle.  The bottom has torn open in such a way that the hook slips down and pokes out the bottom.  I am going to try some gorilla glue on it and see if it will hold up before fully giving up on it and throwing it away.