Have you ever wanted to knit bold color blocks, fun motifs, or personalized patterns into your projects—without the floats and tangles of stranded knitting? Let us introduce you to intarsia!
Intarsia is a knitting technique that allows you to work with blocks of color without carrying the yarn across the back of the work. It’s perfect for designs like hearts, stars, letters, or geometric shapes. Unlike stranded or Fair Isle knitting, where all colors are carried across the row, intarsia gives you clean, crisp color transitions and a lighter fabric.
What You’ll Need:
- A base color yarn and one or more contrast colors.
- A pattern or chart with a simple motif (great for beginners).
- Yarn bobbins or small yarn butterflies to manage separate colors.
- Patience, practice, and a sense of adventure!
Getting Started:
- Read the Chart Carefully: Intarsia designs are usually charted. Each square represents a stitch and each color change is indicated clearly. Knit charts are read right to left on right-side rows and left to right on wrong-side rows.
- Prepare Your Yarn: Wind small amounts of each color onto bobbins or make mini center-pull balls. You’ll need one yarn source for each block of color—even if two blocks use the same color. (many times I forgo the bobbins because it is easier to untangle strands of yarns when working with more than one color).
- Join New Colors: When switching colors, drop the old yarn and twist it once with the new yarn to avoid holes at the join. This twist locks the strands together.
- Watch Your Tension: Keep your tension even as you switch colors. Don’t pull too tight, or the fabric will pucker. Practice makes perfect here!
- Weave in Ends as You Go: Each color change creates new ends. If you can, weave them in while knitting to avoid finishing overload later.
- Practice First: Start with a simple motif like a triangle or stripe. Once you get comfortable, you can tackle more complex images.
Tips From Our Needles:
- Use smooth, non-fuzzy yarns for your first project so the stitches stay defined.
- Work flat rather than in the round. Intarsia in the round is possible, but it’s an advanced technique.
- If a bobbin tangles, pause and unwind. Don’t let yarn chaos spoil the fun.
Why We Love Intarsia
Intarsia opens up a world of creativity! It’s a beautiful way to personalize sweaters, baby blankets, pillows, and even tote bags. And once you’ve gotten the hang of it, you can design your own charts and make each piece one-of-a-kind.
Want to Learn in Person?
Join us in-store for a beginner-friendly Intarsia Workshop, where we’ll walk you through every step and help you create your first colorful swatch. Class is August 24, Sunday, 10:00 A.M. - Noon Sign up for the workshop here.
We also have the prettiest scarf kit with Ito yarn that is color block knitting, called Yamagata Shawl Kit by Ito Yarn:
Watch our YouTube video where Doris guides you step-by-step on how to knit intarsia:
