Types of colourwork knitting.

You will hear different terms used to describe the ways colourwork is incorporated into
knitting.

Fair Isle or Stranded colourwork uses different strands of yarn that go across the full
width of the work, with the unused colours of yarn being stranded across the back of the
work.

https://www.blacksheepwools.com/blogs/news/steeking-fair-isle

Mosaic colourwork is where you work with one colour at a time, either knitting/purling each
stitch or slipping it. Each colour is worked for 2 rows at a time alternately.

https://www.interweave.com/article/knitting/colorwork/tech-tip-mosaic-knitting/

Jacquard is a double sided fabric, more usually made on a machine. It can have either a
‘reverse’ of the colourwork on the back, or a kind of stripy or dotty pattern.

Gabrielle Stanley Intarsia Workshop 1

 http://needlesofsteel.blogspot.com/2007/01/reversible-double-bed-jacquard-and.html
https://makezine.com/projects/machine-knit-a-jacquard-scarf/ .

Intarsia is a method where blocks of colour are each worked separately with the blocks
joined at the edges of each colour using a method where the yarns are twisted together at
the colour change.

https://thewoollybrew.co.uk/blogs/news/intarsia-a-very-beginners-guide-in-10-tips

(Some people use the term jacquard when they mean intarsia, so this can become
confusing.)

Duplicate Stitch or Swiss Darning is a method of embroidering a second colour over the
top of another so that it looks like the stitch was worked in the contrast colour. This is often
used with intarsia if there is a small number of stitches in a different colour, like the ‘rakers’
in the Argyle pattern. (It is also used for darning in the repair sense, hence the name.)

https://www.web-goddess.org/archive/13133

Intarsia Charts

Most intarsia patterns show the colourwork on a chart. You read the chart from the bottom
up. The odd numbered rows are worked with a knit stitch from right to left, and the even
numbered rows are worked with the purl stitch from left to right.

With simple shapes, each block of colour is usually worked with one length of yarn,
however with some more complex patterns it is necessary to split a block of colour into
more than one strand of yarn so you don’t get ‘trapped’ with a yarn end in the wrong place
when you need to change colour.

One thing to remember if you want to design your own intarsia chart is that a knit stitch is
not square – you get a different number of rows and stitches per 10cm or 4in when you
knit your gauge swatch, and you need to take this into account when charting your shapes.
Graph paper with proportional stitch shape is available online for you to print or you can

Gabrielle Stanley Intarsia Workshop 2

use a spreadsheet and make the cells the size you want. You may also be able to find a
clear grid to place over your image.

Working Intarsia

Balls, Bobbins, Butterflies and Loose Yarn

Because intarsia consists of blocks of different colours, you will have two or more lengths
of yarn in every row or round. Some are for large blocks of coloour, in which case you may
just want to work directly from the yarn ball.

With smaller blocks of colour or situations where the same colour is used in more than one
place, you may want to take a smaller length of yarn for each. Different people like to
manage them in different ways. Some just use loose lengths of yarn floating free, which is
particularly good where the block concerned is fairly small.

Alternatively you can wind the length of yarn onto a bobbin (bought or homemade), or
create a yarn butterfly. (see the handout)

You can count the stitches in a block, and combine this with an estimate of how much yarn
is used per stitch, to work out how long a piece of yarn you will need.

Flat intarsia

If you are working a piece of intarsia as a flat piece of knitting, you will be following the
chart to work out where a colour change is going to happen.

To join a new colour, I like Nimble Needles’ method of joining in a new yarn. Work (knit or
purl) to one stitch before the new colour. Take the new colour and place it between the
working yarn and the project, so that working the next stitch traps the end (see the left
image below). Then twist the two colours together (as in the right image below) and you
can start using the new colour on the following stitch, as specified in the chart.

After knitting the first stitch in the new colour, tug on the tails - this helps keep the end of
the new yarn tightly in place. (This can be useful for other projects where you need to join
a new yarn.)

When the blocks of colour are rather small, it is not always practical to use this method,
but you can just start the new yarn as it is needed – just watch out to keep the loose tail
long enough to not cause problems, and tug it tight when you come to working the ‘first’
stitch on the next row/round.

Gabrielle Stanley Intarsia Workshop 3

I sometimes tie the tails together to stop them getting confused with the working yarns.
After you have done a few rows and are happy all is going well, you can darn the ends in
to keep them out of the way.

Once a yarn is joined, on future rows when you get to the place where you need to start
using a different colour there is one rule you follow. You take the colour you are stopping
and put it over the new colour you are about to start using, (i.e. between the work and the
new colour) and pick up the new colour from below, so the new colour traps the old colour.
I find it helps to think that you are placing the old colour along the edge of the work
continuing in the direction you are working.

On the purl side it looks like this (we have just finished with brown and are going to use
yellow):

And on the knit side it looks like this (we have just finished with yellow and are going to
use brown):

I find it useful to pull the new yarn tight before starting to work it, then when you have
worked one or two stitches, tug on the old colour to snug things up. That way the join will
not be loose. At this point, check to make sure the previous colour is securely trapped by
the new yarn.

If there is a colour block where the shape changes from one row to the next, it is possible
to knit one or two stitches over with the old or new colour, depending on the direction. If it
is more than three stitches it is possible to carry yarn behind your work but this isn’t
desirable. It is often preferable to start a new piece of yarn at the appropriate place.

When you reach the end of a row, I find it useful to stop and untangle my yarns before
turning and working back. Not everyone who has tutorials or books advocates this, but I

Gabrielle Stanley Intarsia Workshop 4

find it helps me keep what I am doing clear in my head. It can help to hold your work up
and let the yarns dangle, particularly if you are using bobbins or butterflies. Alternatively,
lay the work out on a flat surface and spread the yarns out.

Intarsia In The Round (ITR)

For smaller ITR knitting, you can work intarsia ITR using DPNs, 2 circulars, Crasy trios, or
magic loop. I have found that for me, 2 circulars is the most practical (I am experimenting
with Crasy Trios which seem to be of similar ease of use). With DPNs I found the needles
get tangled with the yarn rather too easily, whereas with magic loop I had trouble with
tensioning if the edge of a colour block occurs at the place where the knitting is split into
two sections. However this is a personal preference thing and I suggest you try the
different methods to see what suits you personally. Be prepared that it might be different to
your preference for normal ITR working.
With a large garment being worked ITR, a single circular and no ‘looped’ sections is very
practical – but you will need to mark the beginning/end point because you still work
backwards and forwards like flat knitting. For this reason, if I am knitting something large I
would probably work it flat and seam it anyway.
If you are working intarsia ITR you need to nominate one of the colour block edges as your
beginning/ending point. If this is on a shaped colour edge, the beginning/end point will also
move, but don’t worry, every stitch in a round will be worked. It may be the beginning of
round that you used when starting the work, but this isn’t necessarily true. However don’t
worry about this, just find the most convenient beginning point and choose this. You can
slip stitches up to this point and start there, where there is a yarn end waiting for you.
Colour changes on ITR are worked exactly the same as knitting flat, except for the colour
change that occurs at the beginning and end of a round. This is the point where you will
begin to work in the opposite direction, i.e. purling when you were previously knitting or
vice versa.
This is because the yarn for the ‘old’ colour is at the other end of the colour block
concerned. We get around this by bringing the yarn for this colour flat across the top of the
colour block until it reaches the place where you are starting to go back in the other
direction. As with a normal colour change, continue bringing the yarn along the edge past
the ‘new’ colour, and pick up the new colour so that it traps the ‘old’ colour in the same way
as you have been doing in flat intarsia. Leave the long loop of yarn lying along the edge of
that colour block.
Here is a start of round where the next round is purl (on the left, starting with the yellow)
and knit (on the right, starting with the pink).

Gabrielle Stanley Intarsia Workshop 5

Carry on round the piece changing colours as normal as you get to the required place
(again, purl on the left and knit on the right).

Finally you will reach the last colour block, and the yarn for that will be looped across to
the first block. You will use this loop to knit across the block, so pull it out so that it is loose.
The ‘old’ colour you have been working up to now needs to pass along the top of the work
as normal, but you will need to post it through the loop to trap it. Now you can work across
the block, pulling more yarn loose if necessary to hold it tensioned.
Here is a purl direction example (we have just finished working the blue yarn):

And here is a knit direction example (we have just finished knitting the green)

Gabrielle Stanley Intarsia Workshop 6

When you reach the end of the block, tug on the tail of the yarn to tighten the loop away.

You will now be at the end of round. Take a moment to untangle your yarns as I suggested
earlier, and think about the next round. If there is some shaping of the edge of the colour
block, now is a good time to slip the stitches either left or right for the shaping so it is ready
even if you put your knitting down and come back to it later.
When you turn, you will be using the same colour you finished with, but you will need to
make a loop with the colour that is now on the right, just the same as before. Hold the yarn
from the other end of the block across the top of that block and continue along the edge of
the work, then take the ‘new’ colour and trap it in place, leaving the loop to be worked
when you get to the end.
Picking Up After A Break
If you put your work down and are picking it up later, how do you know where you are?
If there is no loop across any knitting, you must be at the beginning of a round. You will be
working in the colour of yarn that is loose at that point, so put that colour on the left. You
will be knitting or purling depending on whether the right or wrong side is facing you,
exactly like knitting flat.
If you are at a colour join and there are two ends there, there must also be a loop. You will
be working towards the loop, so look for the end of the loop which does not have a yarn
end leaving it, Now look back away from the yarn end until you come to the place where
there are two ends, and you will be able to work out which one you need to use to go
forward.

Gabrielle Stanley Intarsia Workshop 7

If you don’t even seem to be at a colour change, you must have been interrupted and put
your work down suddenly. You can work out your place and direction the way you do with
non-colourwork flat knitting.

Gabrielle Stanley Intarsia Workshop 8

Intarsia and intarsia in the round (ITR) on the internet and in books.
ACTechniques (Jen Arnold-Culliford)

‘Flat’ intarsia is covered in her ‘Painterly’ lessons playlist, which was produced to go with
the booklet of the same name. These videos are very clear to follow, and include one
method for estimating the yarn needed for a (small) block of colour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO-4ZpxFCf8&list=PLFhd6f9oJSZjQUhRSYEe-
_iJ3HS205ZRP

Jen uses a different method for intarsia ITR than I am covering, using a yarn over and
decrease to join the beginning to the end of each round. This could be considered simpler
than the loop method I describe, but in my opinion it doesn’t look as neat. I don’t cover
this because I feel the loop method is better, but include the video here for completeness.
https://youtu.be/w1vQrSIDY8Q

Phranco (Frank Jernigan)

This is a very comprehensive video, and he covers both ‘Flat’ and ITR intarsia (using the
loop method). It is long (over an hour), but is easy to follow. He explains his ‘one rule’
about linking the colours which I found very helpful. He advocates using full skeins or
simple lengths of yarn, rather than yarn butterflies etc. He is an ‘untangler’ (like me). I
found this resource the most useful in learning the technique.
https://youtu.be/4xFubQ4FOc0

Phrancko has a separate video in which he describes planning blocks of a single

ball/bobbin/butterfly of yarn for efficiency, and how to calculate yarn lengths for small
blocks of colour. I think his method would be more accurate than Jen Arnold Culliford’s as
it uses actual stitches rather than winding the yarn around a needle.
https://youtu.be/_VllGO-e-Is

Also check his playlist for working charted intarsia for more in depth images on twisting the
yarns.

Annetarsia (Anne Berk)

Anne has published a book on intarsia and the ITR technique called ‘Annetarsia Knits: a
New Link to Intarsia’, available from Amazon (and presumably other booksellers) in printed
format, or as a PDF from her website https://annetarsia.com/ This advocates the ‘loop’
method I am covering.

The following videos explain the underlying principles:

1 Yarn butterfly https://youtu.be/EEulwY8POec
2 Setup round https://youtu.be/I-3PuV3aJDY
3 In the round https://youtu.be/LzKw04DBxI0
4 Burying the ends https://youtu.be/N5LamB62auc
5 Shaping the motif https://youtu.be/lp0f5u8pnbY
6 Turning point https://youtu.be/6pw93jVXvz4

Gabrielle Stanley Intarsia Workshop 9

Nimble Needles (Norman)

‘Flat’ intarsia is covered in this video. The way he links the yarn at the start of a colour
block is what I have described in my handout.
https://youtu.be/dB4VDY0m-4I

Norman also covers ITR in this video, using the loop technique. His example uses 2
colours so there are no ‘normal’ colour changes, so I suggest you look at the Phrancko
and Annetarsia videos first. (He doesn’t like doing colour block shaping on every round, or
using circular needles, whereas Annetarsia and Phrancko allow for this. Knitters choice.)
https://youtu.be/AEhksQ-qWSw

Suzanne Bryan

Suzanne references the two books I mention in her introduction, and demonstrates using
two circular needles. She shows changing the shape of a colour block.
https://youtu.be/dgWS-IiFpEE

Owl Croft Designs

If there is only a small block of a contrast colour and you do not want to break the main
colour into sections, this person has worked out an alternative way of including the
contrast colour ITR. I have not tried it but it looks interesting:
https://youtu.be/3reM7II0Ohg?si=MD2Z6RPy9SjACLT1

Julia Farwell-Clay

In this video she uses the ‘yarn over’ technique that ACT describes.
https://youtu.be/v2Iu8fkoBuc?si=Xvdcs2TKq5RwUm4b

Priscilla Gibson-Roberts

The loop intarsia ITR technique is explained in PGR’s book ‘Simple Socks Plain and
Fancy’. She notes this is taken from Andean sock knitting from Bolivia and Ecuador. Her
illustrations, shown on DPNs, look to me as though she is not wrapping the colours the
correct way at the start of a round!

The book also includes the method that involves joining the beginning and end of a round
with yarn overs and decreases, similar to the ACTechniques video – not included in my
handouts.

(While this is an older book, if you can get hold of it, it is a good resource for coming up
with your own sock patterns in many techniques, not just intarsia, based on short row
heels and toes. There is also a section on mittens.)

Gabrielle Stanley Intarsia Workshop 10

Some Patterns

There are 2 intarsia patterns in the recent FF23 Knitty:

Bad Rap The Barbra

Other (free) patterns I have saved from Ravelry:

Sideways Garter Vest (Purl Soho) Angular Sky Mitts (seamed but could be
converted to ITR)

To The Rescue (s34-16 in Drops) Textured Tiles Sweater (Rowan)

Gabrielle Stanley Intarsia Workshop 11

Berta Sweater (Manos) Graphic Blocks Afghan (Patons)

Elmar (In German, use Google Translate & Ottemark (In Swedish, again Google
DROPS glossary) Translate & DROPS would be your friends)

Foolish Virgins (If you are feeling brave!

By Kaffe Fassett)

Gabrielle Stanley Intarsia Workshop 12