Intarsia

I decided to try my hand at intarsia knitting. I'm making a draw string purse that has different colored polka dots on each side. It's knitted all in one piece, and then seamed on both sides.

For those who don't know what intarsia is, it's isolated color changes in knitting. Instead of carrying colors across the back, you join small amounts of yarn and pick up each color as you need to use it.

It's a pretty simple process. A great website with videos to show how to join colors and how to pick up each color as you go along is at the Vicki Designs website. The videos take awhile to load, but it's worth it.

Here's what I have done so far:

The front view



The back view:



The Knitty Gritty show gave a really great tip for measuring how much yarn you will need for your color changes. Using the pattern chart, count how many stitches you need of each color. Then wrap the yarn around your knitting needle once for each stitch.

Having all the different colors hanging behind your work can make tangles. The show said to use bobbins or to tie the yarn up into "butterflies" to keep it from getting knotting and tangled. I chose to use clothes pins, and they work great!

I will post updated pictures when I've done more of this project. I'm having fun so far!