Stripy, swirling pooling

[MarineWife]

I decided to make this using this yarn. The problem is the colors are pooling into stripy swirls. While it looks pretty I don't think I want a tank top that looks like a bright, swirled rainbow. Anyone have any ideas how I can get it to not pool in swirls or stripes or any other way?

[mommy2maya]

Adjusting your stitch count up or down one or two stitches could be enough to offset any pooling.

[MarineWife]

I thought of that but the pattern has to be in a multiple of 5. Do you think adjusting 5 stitches down would help?

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

If you knit with two balls of yarn at the same time and alternate rows from one ball and rows from the other it will break up the pooling. Or you can do the same thing using yarn from the inside of a center pull ball and yarn from the outside. That will break it up even further as the colors will be in a reversed order.

[MarineWife]

Originally Posted by Rhiannon Feimorgan

If you knit with two balls of yarn at the same time and alternate rows from one ball and rows from the other it will break up the pooling. Or you can do the same thing using yarn from the inside of a center pull ball and yarn from the outside. That will break it up even further as the colors will be in a reversed order.

Yeah, that's sounds like a real pain. Also, wouldn't it waste a lot of yarn? I don't have any to waste. I think I have just enough to make this tank top.

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

You would use the same amount of yarn either way. It is a little more trouble but not a whole lot, more or less like doing stripes but the strips are each the same color.

[flapjack]

Yup: RhiannonF hit the nail on the head.

I personally would probably be inclined to turn the pattern around and start at the top and work my way down, if you're worried about running out of yarn. That way, you wouldn't need to introduce the alternating balls until you get to the ribbing.

[MarineWife]

You think the ribbing is what's causing the swirling and striping? I tried casting on 5 less stitches. That helped some with the pooling but I still got stripes, which I think I like less than the pooled swirls. (I know, there's no please me. ) I don't think I'm experienced enough to turn the pattern around and start at the top.

So, if I tried using either 2 balls of yarn or opposite ends of the same ball, I would switch every 2 rows? Which do you think would be more likely to not pool, 2 balls or opposite ends of the same ball? I don't mind a little bit of pooling here and there. I understand that might be unavoidable. However, I'd like the colors to be random for the most part rather than striped.