• 0 items$0.00
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Hands Occupied

Colorful knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame from craft book author & designer Heidi Gustad.

  • BLOG
    • Knitting
    • Crochet
    • Latch Hook
    • Macramé
    • Punch Needle
  • ABOUT
  • Shop
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • YouTube

Intarsia 101

September 4, 2018 4 Comments

This tutorial is part of our Read Along Knit Along series & is brought to you by LoveKnitting, Eucalan & Knitter’s Pride.

Intarsia 101: What is intarsia knitting, how it's different from stranded colorwork, and how to knit intarsia, featuring an in-depth video tutorial to demonstrate the technique for absolute beginners. Click through for this awesome tutorial.
Intarsia. It’s a word that strikes fear in the hearts of knitters, myself formerly among them. First of all, it’s a colorwork technique, i.e. a way of knitting with 2 or more differently-colored yarns to create colorful patterns. Intarsia is special because once you can work the technique, a whole new world of possibilities opens up for you as a knitter. Everything from argyle (one of the most famous knitting designs in the world, achievable with intarsia knitting!) to, well, a picture of a zebra becomes something you can knit into your work. Doesn’t this sound fun?

What’s Intarsia?

Also known as picture knitting, intarsia enables knitters to create isolated chunks of color and/or motifs of multiple colors. Intarsia earns its picture knitting nickname particularly when you consider pieces like statement sweaters featuring a single word or image on the chest. In knitting, you’ll most commonly come across intarsia worked flat in stockinette stitch, and your pattern will most likely be in the form of a chart.

Intarsia 101: What is intarsia knitting, how it's different from stranded colorwork, and how to knit intarsia, featuring an in-depth video tutorial to demonstrate the technique for absolute beginners. Click through for this awesome tutorial.

How to knit intarsia

As you’ll learn in the video below, intarsia is accomplished by knitting different sections of a given row of knitting using multiple, separate balls of yarn. For instance, if your intarsia chart features a row in which two colors are worked, you’ll be knitting from three separate balls of yarn. The first and last ball of yarn you’ll work from are the same color, and the second will be a contrasting color. (If you’re a visual learner, watch the video to see how this works.) Often in intarsia, the “balls” of yarn your working from are shorter lengths of yarn, wound into butterflies or on to bobbins.

Intarsia 101: What is intarsia knitting, how it's different from stranded colorwork, and how to knit intarsia, featuring an in-depth video tutorial to demonstrate the techinque for absolute beginners.

Intarsia vs. Stranded Knitting

Intarsia is different than stranded knitting (a.k.a. fair isle knitting). In fair isle, you’re carrying one or more strands of yarn in different colors, “floating” the unused colors on the wrong side of your work. Those floats result in several strands of yarn at the back of your work, hence the name “stranded.”

Love & Lopapeysas: All about knitting an Icelandic sweater

Icelandic Lopapeysa sweaters use stranded colorwork to create motifs worked in the round. Notice that the colorwork runs all the way around each round of this sweater. This is different than intarsia, where contrasting yarn colors are limited to isolated portions of the row/round. 

Sometimes reading an explanation of a knitting technique worded two different ways (and especially from two different teachers) is helpful to understand it. During the process of designing my Intarsia Mountain pattern, my pattern Editor explained the difference between the two techniques like this:

In intarsia, different sections of each row are worked in different colors. Intarsia is different than stranded knitting in that the knitter doesn’t carry the unused yarn behind the work. Instead, she drops the old color, brings the yarn for the new color up under the yarn of the old color, and then continues on knitting in the new color until the next color change or the end of the row. This method twists the yarns to close any gaps between the old and new colors.

The Hat Hat | Hands Occupied

The Hat Hat is an example of intarsia knitting. 

If you’ve only knit stranded colorwork up to this point, you’re not alone. Tons of knitters are in the same boat. The biggest thing to understand about intarsia versus stranded colorwork is that in stranded colorwork, stitches are held together by tension across sections of color in the row. In intarsia, sections of color are held together a little bit like a suspension bridge. Differently-colored strands of yarn interlock with each other when you change colors to avoid gaps between stitches at the color change. For a swatch of intarsia featuring a simple shape, the left and right edges of the square interlock with adjacent stitches for horizontal tension, and the bottom and top rows of the shape are knit into the stitches above or below them, just like any other piece of knitting (colorwork or otherwise).

Intarsia 101: What is intarsia knitting, how it's different from stranded colorwork, and how to knit intarsia, featuring an in-depth video tutorial to demonstrate the technique for absolute beginners. Click through for this awesome tutorial.

Video tutorial: Intarsia 101

Since knitting is almost always easier to understand visually, I’ll stop yammering about tension bridge swatches and let this video drive home the basics of intarsia. Just remember: The key with intarsia is to ensure your differently-colored strands of yarn interlock with each other when you change colors to avoid gaps between stitches at the color change.

Intarsia resources

Like I said, sometimes it’s helpful to read several different folks’ explanations of a knitting technique, so here’s a bit of additional reading to help you better understand intarsia. And as always, if you’ve got any questions, holler in the comments or email me at heidi-at-handsoccupied-dot-com. 

  • Intarsia Knitting Demystified: How to Intarsia Knit -Interweave
  • Beyond the Basics: Intarsia -Vogue Knitting
  • Tips for Knitting Your Best Intarsia Yet -Craftsy
  • Stars & Stripes Felted Hot Pad & an overview of intarsia -Purl Soho
  • A basic intarsia hat knitting pattern -Knitty

Practice swatch

If you’d like to try intarsia for yourself or brush up on your technique, here’s the chart pattern for the swatch featured in the video. Please note: the chart includes a slipped stitch edging and two rows of garter stitch are featured all the way around the swatch to prevent rolling. 

Intarsia 101: What is intarsia knitting, how it's different from stranded colorwork, and how to knit intarsia, featuring an in-depth video tutorial to demonstrate the technique for absolute beginners.

Click here for a larger chart.

Intarsia 101: What is intarsia knitting, how it's different from stranded colorwork, and how to knit intarsia, featuring an in-depth video tutorial to demonstrate the technique for absolute beginners.
Intarsia Mountain by Heidi Gustad, pictured in a neutral color palette

Intarsia & the Read Along Knit Along

This post was published as part of the fall 2018 Read Along Knit Along, during which we’re knitting my Intarsia Mountain pattern. Intarsia Mountain is, you guessed it, knit entirely using intarsia. To accomplish this bold, nearly-reversible design, garter stitch is used in combination with stockinette stitch to achieve the finished look. If you’re RALKALing with us and are ready for more advanced tutorials, head to the Hands Occupied Ravelry Group for great discussion of intarsia and how it applies to making Intarsia Mountain, and keep your eyes on the Hands Occupied YouTube channel for relevant video tutorials that will be published there before the full blog posts about each technique are published on this blog.

Intarsia 101: What is intarsia knitting, how it's different from stranded colorwork, and how to knit intarsia, featuring an in-depth video tutorial to demonstrate the technique for absolute beginners. Click through for this awesome tutorial.

This tutorial is part of our Read Along Knit Along series & is brought to you by LoveKnitting, Eucalan & Knitter’s Pride.

Filed Under: Giveaways, Reviews & Sponsored, Knit Along, Knitting Tagged With: how to knit intarsia, intarsia, intarsia 101, intarsia mountain, ralkal, read along knit along, video tutorial

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. She specializes in knitting, crochet, latch hook and macramé, and her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now!

Previous Post: « Picks of the Week
Next Post: Read Along Knit Along Sponsor Spotlight »

Reader Interactions

DID YOU LIKE THIS POST?
Visit similar articles...

  • How to Estimate & Manage Yarn Tails in Intarsia KnittingHow to Estimate & Manage Yarn Tails in Intarsia Knitting
  • Advanced Intarsia Knitting TipsAdvanced Intarsia Knitting Tips
  • How to Knit Intarsia Without Bobbins or ButterfliesHow to Knit Intarsia Without Bobbins or Butterflies
  • More Intarsia Mountain Color Palettes!More Intarsia Mountain Color Palettes!

DON’T MISS ANOTHER UPDATE

Comments

  1. JTM

    September 4, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    This is awesome! I always thought intarsia was not worth the trouble, but your breakdown is making me rethink that approach!

    Reply
    • Heidi

      September 4, 2018 at 3:11 pm

      It really, truly opens up so many new ideas in your knitting, and there’s a whole WORLD of patterns you’ll be able to do if you hop on board the intarsia train! :)

      Reply
  2. Jocelyn Ang

    April 30, 2020 at 4:28 am

    Is it possible to do intarsia if you’re not using knitting needles? I am hand knitting with super bulky yarn.

    Reply
    • Heidi

      May 1, 2020 at 2:18 pm

      I would think so, but you may need to do some experimenting to practice with tension first – a big swatch! :) LMK if you want to brainstorm ideas on how to make this work.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi (she/her/hers), a craft book author & pattern designer specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. Really anything with yarn! ❤️  My work combines vintage and modern design elements, featuring bold colors and graphic motifs.

UPDATES BY EMAIL

Monthly highlights sent to your inbox.

Find Me Elsewhere, If You’re There

  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
Latch Hook by Heidi GustadDiscover Unique Items

Footer

INSTAGRAM

handsoccupied

Craft book author & pattern designer ❤️💛💙
knitting, crochet, latch hook & macramé
.
Please email for pattern support. 🧶

Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️
How to to knit throwing (a.k.a. English) style . How to to knit throwing (a.k.a. English) style 
.
In knitting, there are a few common knitting styles. Most often you’re going to encounter continental style and English (throwing) style on your knitting journey. I recently had an old video teaching continental style get a lot of views. Based on the comments, it was clear the people wanted to also see a throwing tutorial, so here you go! 🧶
.
Please note that there is a LOT of variation in knitting styles, and one isn’t necessarily better than another. Most often, I’ve found it comes down to two things: how you were taught and whether or not you’re really into colorwork knitting (which can involve a mix of styles). 
.
Longer-term knitters who’ve made it this far: do you prefer one over the other? And why? 
.
#handsoccupied #englishknitting #learntoknit #knitting #howtoknit #knittersofinstagram #knitting_inspiration
How to do a one-step provisional knitting cast on How to do a one-step provisional knitting cast on / a.k.a. crochet provisional cast on, scrap yarn cast on
.
I read recently that tiktok and Instagram are being used as search engines more and more. 🤔 I thought since I’m going to all the work of making tutorials on YouTube, I should experiment with making a quick version of them for other platforms. There are obvious teaching limitations to vertical video, short-form content like this, but I think I covered the gist of this cast on in a minute. The YouTube version also covers how to unzip this cast on because there was time for it 👍🏻 L1nk is in my profile. 
.
I’m very much looking for feedback as I continue to make instructional knitting & craft videos. Sometimes good tutorials are hard to find, and (ideally polite) feedback helps me improve. 
.

#handsoccupied #provisionalcaston #knitting #knititngtutorial #knittersofinstagram #crochethook #knittingtutorial
For the first time in a long time, there’s a new For the first time in a long time, there’s a new tutorial from Hands Occupied! 🎉 The video is live on YouTube & the blog. 
.
The post covers what provisional cast ons are & how they differ, and the video covers how to work a one-step provisional cast on using scrap yarn and a crochet hook. (This is a great one to save for future reference.)
.
I learned several names for this method while researching this video & post. Crochet provisional cast on, one-step cast on, scrap yarn cast on - if you know even more names for this technique, please share! 
.
#handsoccupied #provisionalcaston #knitting #scrapyarn #crochethook
Working on a sample for some upcoming videos. It’s an overcast day with intermittent sunshine & I have a scruffy little sidecar. 🐶 Can’t complain! 
.
What’s on your needles this week? 
.
Yarn: @debbieblissknits Cashmerino Aran 
.
#handsoccupied #knitting #knittinglife
Peg boards and craft room organization go together Peg boards and craft room organization go together like peanut butter and jelly. So, as you can see, do latch hook tools and screwdriver organizers! 🪛 
.
I think this trick translates to any tool with a thick handle, so leather working tools, punch needles, print making tools, etc. should work! What other tools am I, a needlecrafter, blanking on right now? 
.
#craftorganization #handsoccupied #latchhook #latchhooking
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2023 / Foodie Pro Theme On Genesis Framework / Branding by Ink + Mortar
All Site & Shop Policies / Privacy Policy / Cookie Policy