Get Lucky with INTARSIA
Intarsia has always appealed to me: There is something both charming and whimsical about forming shapes in knitted fabric. Intarsia knitting can form an arrangement of geometric shapes or capture a pictorial image: It’s a knitted collage of sorts, often with broad areas of colors.
My LUCKY FROG PILLOW was an outgrowth of the Noro 10 Anniversary blanket Knitalong! For the blanket, I designed many squares inspired by iconic images from Japan. You can see some of them here!
The LUCKY FROG design was an extra that was not included in the blanket. I was so smitten with the image that I made it into a larger square, and formed a pillow. The Back is not intarsia, but all stranded colorwork.
Here you can see both Front and Back of the pillow, and a detail of the mitered corner edging.
I joined front to back easily with a 3-needle bind off! No sewing at all! The insert for the pillow was stuck in just before joining the last side.
Some knitters may groan at the prospect of knitting many areas of color, dealing with the strands of yarn that this entails, but certainly all must agree that the right-side finished results are usually delightful! If you are not familiar with intarsia, a small project like this is a fun and easy start.
Check out Carla Scott’s videos here for the Noro 10th Anniversary KAL – she goes over all the techniques in a clear and fun way!
My other fun intarsia projects!
I designed the brightly colored “Beetle” sweater for the Winter 2021/22 issue of Vogue Knitting. I enjoyed making a whimsical bug whose antennae followed the lines of the V-neckline!
My bold pullover is from Vogue Knitting 2010, and can be seen in more detail here. The lower striped section is worked side to side. The upper bodice, featuring interlocking geometric shapes, is worked in intarsia.
Sometimes a touch of intarsia is all that you need! Witness this sweater design of mine from Vogue Knitting, Winter 1992/93. Still one of my fav sweaters, even after all these years!
From my first book DESIGNING KNITWEAR (soon to be available on this site), here is a sweater that was inspired by a favorite Japanese print by the artist Hiroshige. I used both stranded colorwork and intarsia techniques to achieve the soft gradations of color.
How do the images of intarsia emerge?
Images for intarsia are created on a grid that is proportioned to the correct stitch-to-row ratio of Stockinette Stitch fabric.
If gauge in basic Stockinette stitch is 5 stitches = inch and 7 rows = inch, the grid for an intarsia image must reflect these numbers if the design and motifs are to keep their shape in the knitting.
It’s fun to capture shapes on proportioned graph paper, available from many sources. Or use one of the many graphic programs, like Stitch Fiddle or Stitch Mastery.
When I begin a project, I roughly sketch my design or picture in bold shapes on grid or paper, disregarding the grid. I go back and outline the shapes, following the blocks of the individual stitches to sharpen the shapes.
Intarsia reminders
Here are a few rules for knitting intarsia. Follow them and your knitting and finishing will be easier.
Decide if you need bobbins or strands for the areas of color. If the yarn is silky and slides easily, a long strand may be easier to pull out of a tangle if your project has lots of colors. If the yarn is tweedy or textured—more difficult to separate if tangled—wind the long strands into small “butterflies” or wrap them around a store-bought device, which will allow you to pull out a small length for each section.
When you approach a new section, always twist the previous strand of color with the new color strand to avoid a hole between areas.
At awkward junctures of shapes where twisting does not seem enough, carry the old strand color into the new section and twist again a few stitches in. Then, on the row back, do the same (twisting in a different spot)—bring the yarn to the beginning of its own color section, twisting there as well. Carrying the yarn a few extra stitches back and forth with a loose tension is a way to make sure the joined areas stay firm.
Weave in any ends when you can during the knitting!
If your working strand runs out, knit the end together with a new strand, all in one stitch. Do this within a color section, not at the edge of it.
When there are small sections of the same color instead of having a separate strand for each little area, you can carry the yarn from one section to another, twisting to avoid long floats—stranded knitting. Take care so that the tension in any stranded sections does not pull tighter than the surrounding plain knit areas.
The ends at the end
The most daunting aspect of multicolor intarsia finishing is that there will be many more ends to weave in than with other kinds of knitting. Try to weave in ends as you go, twisting an end with the working yarn.
After the piece is complete, I weave in the ends along the joins between color sections rather than into the color section itself. This firms up the joins and keeps the areas of color smooth. Close any openings between areas as you weave in ends.
Jumping in
As an antidote to the challenges presented, setting aside a dedicated space can make knitting intarsia easier. Set up a small table on which you can keep your chart (carefully marked to keep your place) and arrange your yarns. If you have the luxury of leaving this area untouched, you can return for a quick row or two whenever you have a moment of downtime.
If you haven’t ever done an intarsia piece, try a small project like my pillow as an introduction!
Have fun with this wonderful technique that always captures images in a charming way!