I’m a big fan of stranded colourwork knitting – and I know many of our customers are aficionados too! But there are times when you want a single bold colour motif that’s non-repeating, no stranding required. It’s in these situations that we turn to another type of colourwork knitting: intarsia.
We’ve had a look at intarsia at A-C Knitwear headquarters before – Bristol Ivy’s Brambling Shawl introduced us to flat intarsia knitting as part of A Year of Techniques. But intarsia in the round presents special challenges. Because of the ways you manage your yarns when working intarsia, the technique wants to be knitted flat. In today’s tutorial, I’ll show you a bit of knitting jiggery-pokery that lets you work back and forth across your circular knitting, enabling you to work beautiful intarsia motifs in the round. Using Julia Farwell-Clay’s charming Heartgyle Socks pattern, I’ll cover how you manage your yarns to create seamless intarsia joins, as well as how you incorporate the distinctive diagonal lines that put the “gyle” in Heartgyle.
My Heartgyle Socks in progress. Image © Jesse Wild
It might seem intimidating at first, but a deep breath, some calm yarn management, and following a few simple steps will see you through it – and leave you with a lasting sense of accomplishment. So grab your needles and watch on … you’ll be intarsia-ing in the round in no time!
If you’re feeling inspired to give intarsia in the round a try, why not come join us over in our July Boost Your Knitting KAL on Ravelry – any projects using the technique are welcome! And if you’d like to knit your own pair of Heartgyle Socks (and receive the step-by-step intarsia in the round photo tutorial, as well all the patterns and photo tutorials from Boost Your Knitting so far), it’s not too late to sign up to Boost Your Knitting! Happy knitting!