I have embarked on a new long-term knitting project: a rainbow scarf in brioche knit with vertical stripes of color. The yarn is from Wanderlust Fiber Co in Dallas TX, and it was purchased through a fundraiser through JuJu Knits for #LGBQTSaves. I reached out to the yarn dyers for more of the sparkly white so I had enough to back all the color in the scarf. The most terrifying thing about this project is if all those beautiful colors get tangled (seriously, the horror). So I devised a method to keep it all from turning to rainbow spaghetti. Enter one of DIYers top three multipurpose supplies: the pool noodle. (Which has a close following to duct tape and hot glue.) I cut a length of pool noodle, then slit it down the side to make a clamp for the center pull balls of yarn. The pressure on the yarn keeps the balls from rolling or swinging about, and since they are center-pull, the yarn feeds out easily.

The colors came in mini skeins, which, once they are wound into cakes, are a perfect size for a pool noodle clamp. As I knit the colored rows, I do need to watch carefully which way to route the yarn, but if I do mess up, I can take the tangled yarn out of the clamp, untangle, and slide it back in place. No worries.

The sparkly white stays out of the clamp, because it runs its rows independently of the colors. It is working quite well. And the pool noodle sits along my thigh when I sit in my chair and stays put.

This is definitely not a travel project, it stays in the knitting bag by my chair. So it will be in process for while. I’ll post updates as construction continues.