Intarsia Knitting Patterns

What Is An Intarsia Knitting Pattern?

Put simply, an intarsia knitting pattern is a set of instructions you can follow to create a garment using the intarsia technique.

Unlike other techniques and types of knitting stitch, intarsia allows you to create multicolored knitting projects with lots of different colors in every row. More importantly, the colors can appear completely independently from each other.

This is achieved by keeping only one active color on every stitch, and working each color in its own independent section.

For this reason, intarsia knitting patterns often include abstract designs, symbols, logos, and motifs that you won’t find in other types of knitting.

What’s the Difference Between Intarsia and Stranded Knitting?

Unlike Fair Isle or ‘stranded’ knitting, intarsia doesn’t involve carrying leftover yarn behind the work. When a color changes, the new yarn is brought up underneath the old yarn, which is left hanging on the row and twisted into the work. This allows you to use as many colors in a row as you need, for as long as you need.

Is Intarsia Knitting Difficult?

Intarsia knitting isn’t always difficult, but it is technically more complicated than basic knitting techniques because you’ll have to work with several different yarns simultaneously. Generally speaking, its difficulty will depend on the type of garment you’re knitting, the colorwork design, and your skill level.

It’s not recommended for new knitters to dive straight into an intarsia knitting pattern. However, once you’ve mastered the basic rules, it shouldn’t take too long to feel comfortable with it.

How Do You Make Intarsia Knitting Patterns?

If you simply want to knit a garment using intarsia, you can follow a pre-existing knitting pattern or chart created by another designer. However, if you want to design your own intarsia pattern, you’ll need a basic pattern for the garment and a chart for the image you want to add to it.

Intarsia charts are visual representations of written knitting patterns. Each square on the chart is color coded and represents one stitch. To read an intarsia chart, start with a knit row in the bottom right corner and read the row from right to left. The next row up is a purl row, which you’ll then read from left to right.

To create your own charts, you can also use a free intarsia knitting chart generator like Stitch Fiddle or Chart Minder. You then follow this chart step-by-step to reproduce your design in your knitted fabric.

How to Knit Using the Intarsia Technique

To knit intarsia, all you technically need to know is how to weave in your ends and knit the stockinette stitch. Intarsia is almost always worked flat, but it is technically possible to work it in the round, too.

To get started, work the first few stitches in your first color until a new color appears on your chart. When you need to change colors, pick up the second color from underneath the first color and twist them together to prevent any gaps in the work.

Knit the next few stitches with your new color, trapping the tail of the previous color on the other side and twisting it around the new yarn.

Once you’ve added a new color, you can continue following your chart until you need to join the next color using the same method.

It’s worth remembering that every time you change yarn colors, you will need to add a new ball of yarn to your work. The more colors you use, the more complicated the project will be to manage.

Here’s a video with more detailed instructions on how to knit intarsia: