INTARSIA IS often spoken of by knitters in hushed tones. For ages, I thought attempting it would require much girding of loins and squaring of shoulders before diving into the complexities it promised. In fact, it’s an incredibly simple concept. I think that, often, what intimidates people is the idea of winding yarn into separate balls (always a chore), or working out the vagaries of yarn management. Well, worry no more: I’m here to offer a few tips and tricks that will help with even the most complex of intarsia projects.
Let’s go back to the absolute basics. What is intarsia? It’s a colourwork technique that involves joining new colours into the fabric mid-row, and knitting a number of stitches in that colour without stranding the other colours behind it. It’s particularly good for items where several colours feature in one row, or if colourwork motifs are large and/or non-repeating. It reduces yarn waste, and eliminates any tension differences inherent in stranded colourwork.
The basic set-up involves winding all the different yarns required into smaller balls
