Intarsia is a visually striking knitted fabric, with large blocks of colour or complex patterns not possible using stranded methods. Intarsia pattern instructions usually tell the knitter to twist the colours together, but don’t really specify how to do this to achieve a neat effect. I have found that just holding the two yarns in a particular way allows them to naturally lock together forming a line on the reverse of the fabric, without bumps or exaggerated twists. This is intuitive and quickly becomes a natural way of working.
The join between two colours shown on the reverse
The join when viewed from the front
This is how I do it.
Stocking Stitch Colour Joining
Work to the point at which the colours are to be joined, in this case, the join is a straight line
Hold the yarn you have been working with out of the way, and bring the new colour under the old. Here, the old colour is green (on the left) and the new colour is orange (on the right).
The view at the back of the work, old colour above, new colour coming from the right and below.
Start working with the new colour (orange).
The back view at this stage
Having purled back to the point of the join, this is what it looks like
After a few rows, the back of the piece shows the neat pattern of the join
The join front view
Garter Colour Join
The method here is the same as for stocking stitch at the front of the work, but for the back of the piece it is a little more complicated.
The back of the piece, the orange has been kit to the join, the orange yarn is still at the front of the piece
Bring the “old” working yarn through the gap to the back of the piece; “new” working yarn is the green below the orange
Holding the old orange to the left, bring the new green under and up
Pass the new green to the front of the piece over the old orange and adjust tension
Knitting with the new green yarn
The view of the back, showing the pattern for both stocking stitch joins and garter stitch joins are the same
