This yarn will not cooperate!

I finished a custom for a very sweet mama that I've knit for once before (finished pictures later). However, completing this pair turned out to be quite an adventure. This yarn wanted to pool vertically no matter what I tried - increasing a few stitches, decreasing a few stitches, going up a needle size, going down a needle size - nothing helped! Finally I added a rope cable - still not cooperating! As a last ditch effort I tried a braid and woooohooo! My last resort would have been to have knit from both ends of the skein. This project used every last bit of yarn. There was literally less than 1 yard of yarn left over of the main colorway.