The Skinny on Intarsia

We tackled a new method of color work, called "Intarsia," in my knitting class this week.

I had really enjoyed the Fair Isle method of color work so I thought that I'd love Intarsia. Yeah, not so much. In Fair Isle, you carry all of the yarns you are using behind you. It makes for a very thick back of your knitted work. In Intarsia, you use multiple balls of yarn so that each time you change a color, you use another ball of yarn. If you look at the back of the "j" Intarsia sample, you'll see that I just kept changing balls of yarn and that the old colors weren't carried over.The back of the work is much thinner than with Fair Isle.

If you are really interested in the subject of Fair Isle versus Intarsia, check out this link: http://www.maggiesrags.com/tips_color.htm

I've posted the pics from Fair Isle (left) so you can see the difference from the perspective of the back of the work.

When it comes to doing color work Intarsia style, you twist your yarn when you switch so that the stitches don't pull apart. Nothing like gaping holes in your work to distract from the image you are trying to create! This method will definitely need some work before I would use it in a project. However, there are some super cute Intarsia patterns out there so maybe I was too hasty when I declared in class that I was only sticking with Fair Isle. One of the newest craze I've noticed is...skull and cross bones. Though I'm not a fan of them personally, I do think that skulls and cross bones done in pink and purple would be super cute ;0)

I did managed a decently neat initial...if you don't look too closely! I do have to remind myself that it was just my first attempt...practice makes perfect, right?

Hope all is well in your crafty world! I'm almost done with the blocks for the Bella Baseball Scarf! Then the long, tedious process of figuring out how to sew them together will begin! I'm nervous but excited to see how it will look when I actually get done. I will keep you posted!