Update: I’ll be teaching another class featuring this design at the July 2018 Chain Link conference in Portland Oregon.

Jempool is designed to be an in-depth introduction to a type of planned pooling called color stacking. It’s a part of the “Stitch Games” class I first taught at the 2016 Crochet Guild of America conference. See my newsletter issue #77 on this topic.

If you’re new to color stacking, use Jempool as a portal to fascinating experiences with variegated yarns. I’m so pleased to be able to add this pattern to my collection. Once you see how to organize their colors as you crochet, you’ll be able to create many more effects! View all of my color pooling projects.

Included:

• Five-step photo guide to understanding the type of variegated yarn you have.
• A “Color Appendix” of sample yarns and swatches.

Slip stitch crochet offers several advantages for a special hand painted yarn. For more on this, see the full pattern description here. See all of my slip stitch crochet patterns in one place.

New to slip stitch crochet? Skip the color stacking steps for now, and use this pattern as a beginner project with any sock yarn. Also see the beginner- friendly Slipster Slackscarf.

Skill Level: Beginner to Easy-Intermediate
Use the information in this pattern to explore planned pooling with crochet. This is an Easy-Intermediate skill. Crocheting it is a different experience. Not all variegated (multi-colored) yarns will readily stack up by color for this pattern, so even choosing your yarn requires a unique “sleuthing method”. I describe this method step by step on page 3.

What is planned pooling and color stacking? “Pooling” often happens accidentally with a variegated (multicolor) yarn. The colors may look evenly mixed until you crochet or knit with it; then the colors seem to randomly pile up or “pool” in undesirable ways. The same yarn can look blotchy in one project yet settle into an argyle pattern in a different project.

You’ll have the opportunity to learn these skills:

• How planned pooling (aka intentional pooling) works.
• How to make a yarn’s colors stack up in columns as you crochet in rows.
• How to crochet slip stitches for fashionable stretch and drape.
• How to count rows of front-loop slip stitches.
• How to choose a multicolored yarn for this kind of design.
• How to identify the true color sequence of a variegated yarn.
• How to choose the best stitch gauge for pooling with your yarn.
• How to understand which scarf dimensions are fixed or variable in a color stacked design.

Substituting Yarn: A “sock yarn” with short color repeats that are at least 2” {over 5 cm} long is recommended.
If you’re new to Slip Stitch Crochet technique, choose any smooth-textured, solid-colored yarn in the #1 Super Fine Weight category.