Assigned Pooling Socks (2026)

February 15, 2026 - No Comments

Pattern: Toe-up, Cat Bordhi riverbed arch expansion and Wendy Knits toe-up sock; the leaf and rosebud stitches from “Reflecting Pool” by AtKnitsEnd for the assigned pooling design
Yarn: A Chick that Knitz Deluxe Sock yarn, Assigned Pooling “Tropical Flowers” colourway

Method: Handknit, 2.00mm needles
Completed: March 15, 2026.

A simple sock travel project. I knit a standard sock foot because I didn’t want to have bumpy stitches in my shoe. For the ankle, I did the “assigned pooling” knitting flower clusters when I got to the dash of vibrant colour in the yarn.

The yarn and swatching

The yarn for assigned pooling is pretty particular — you want to have mostly solid colour, and then periodic bursts of colour for a short bit. When I first saw the skeins at A Chick that Knitz booth, I thought “this will pool horribly when knit!”. Then I saw the knit samples and the penny dropped. You knit plain through the main colour, and whenever you get to the contrasting colour, you switch to a built up stitch which uses that length of colour. Then, back to knitting plain. No charts. Just let the yarn talk to you! I did have to adjust the number of stitches (i.e., the circumference) for the ankle, so that I didn’t wind up with the assigned pooling stitches all piling up in one place.