Explanation of Intarsia

Here is a definition of Intarsia from:

In intarsia, there are large blocks of single colors, that make anabstract or representative picture. It is not practical to carry the yarnacross the back of large areas without using it, so a separate small ballor bobbin of yarn is used for each area of a color across the row. Whenyou come to the edge of a color block, and want to start a new color, thenew strand is always picked up from underneath the old one. As you workyour way up the knitting, this twists the strands around each other,connecting the edges of each color to the next. If you Google for "knitted intarsia" (there is also a woodworking variety) you will find many different websites which explain what is is and how to do it.

Sandra

I've heard it's also called picture knitting, and Mary Thomas's Knitting Book calls it geometric knitting and explains that the colors are not stranded or woven. It can be 2 color like fair isle, but the color blocks are larger than would be practical to strand the yarn, so separate balls for each section of color are used. An example that comes to mind is argyle knitting. It usually uses intarsia for the diamonds, and then Swiss darning/duplicate st to make the single strands of X's that go through both colors.

This is a tutorial on how to knit an argyle sock. There are closeupsof the inside of the sock so you can see color changes. Just clickthe links at the top of the page for Lesson 1, etc. Leah

Yes, this is fine for patterns where there is an equal number of stiches for each colour but not when there are differences. The yarns would twist horribly. There's no problem in simply watching the yarns and keeping them straight by using whicever is 'on top'.

I never use short lengths on bobbins, just straight from the bll or cop.

Mary