How To
Boost Your Knitting: Intarsia in the Round
OK, friends, we bring you a new technique and a new pattern that will take you to new heights.
Flying Wallenda heights, actually.
Watch! As Jen Arnall-Culliford takes us on a trip across the high wire of knitting intarsia colorwork in the round.
Lean in! As Jen calmly explains how sometimes you want to add a motif to your knitting in the round, without having to strand all the way around the round.
Gasp! As she does a thing with a yarnover that you may not believe.
Swoon! As she works flat on a sock that is knitted in the round.
Nod! As you finally see what the heck she’s doing.
I am pretty sure you have never seen anything like this.
The Pattern?
Why, it’s from the ever-inventive designer (and MDK contributor) (and designer featured in MDK Field Guide No. 7: Ease) Julia Farwell-Clay.
Ready for it? Heartgyle Socks.
For those of us who are cheerfully working toward our first socks, this is the sort of next-level socking that we can aspire to. And it’s straight-up fun to see how a technique like this works.
Wow, I recently made a hat for a nephew with his favorite MLB logo on it and this technique would have made it so much easier. Dare I say it, “life changing” well at least hat improving. I think I need to request a do over.
WHAT THE WHAT?!?! I made a hat design but couldn’t figure this out to save my life. This is life changing thank you!
Isn’t this the technique authored by Anne Berk in her book Annetarsia?
That book is really amazing! But Anne uses a slightly different way of working intarsia in the round. It’s also a really clever technique though, and definitely something I’d like to try! 🙂
Been wrote an excellent book and does workshops. She didn’t invent the technique. When I took a workshop back in the Dark Ages—sometime around 1998—this technique was presented as being a “specialty” of Estonian knitters, including those who knitted on contract for Coco Chanel to make her “middy blouse” sweaters. I believe it’s also fairly common in Iceland.
I meant “Berk” wrote an excellent book—dratted autocorrect.
Now that is really a cool technique
Love the socks, but WHERE CAN I GET THOSE SHOES?
I’m wondering why the blue yarn doesn’t have to be brought from under the old yarn. I’ve always brought yarn from underneath.
It’s just because there’s only one stitch in the blue yarn. So we carry the red yarn over the top of it, and that is enough to join it in. As Janet says in her reply, the blue doesn’t need to work back and forth as it’s only one stitch. I hope that helps! 🙂
I think it’s because the red yarn continues along in the same direction before and after the blue stitch. When changing from the grey yarn to the red yarn, the yarns need to be twisted because on the subsequent row, the red yarn changes direction and doubles back on itself. This would cause the red yarn and the grey yarn to pull apart from each other and leave a hole if the yarns weren’t twisted round each other.
Brilliant!
After the Big Floral Damask Thing, these socks would seem to be right up Kay’s alley! Kay. . .Kay. . .Kay. . .Bueller?
You are SO right! How is that Big Floral Damask thing Kay? 🙂 I’m hoping to see it at Rhinebeck.
Really cool socks.
Neat. I did try once before and made a complete pig’s ear of it. Now I shall have to have another go.
I’m a slow knitter and left handed…wondering if this boost your knitting will work for me???
Question — If I were to sign up for Boost Your Knitting now (july 2019) — would my year be over NEXT Year (July 2020) or the end of THIS Year (Dec 2019) . Thanks!
The video tutorials are released monthly, with the last video being released on Monday 3rd February 2020. The patterns and photo tutorials are coming monthly at the moment, but the complete print book with all 12 patterns and photo tutorials is being shipped in September this year. So it doesn’t matter when you join in – you always get 12 patterns and tutorials in total. And the video tutorials will remain available on YouTube indefinitely.
Errr, am I the only person who got a really obvious and ugly seam using this method?? I can’t figure out what I was doing wrong!
Hi Jen, not sure why your reply didn’t post here but I did receive it by email, and I just wanted to say thank you for your help! German short rows did work better for me. I think I have tension differences between knit and purl and ssk and yo which combined to give me a wonky rib running up my work.
I want to hear more about this German short row methods!
So do you purl the wrong side even on the rows without the motif?