In this post let’s look at two color knitting and how to make sure the joins are neat and tidy. This type of knitting is also known as block knitting or Intarsia knitting. The trick is to get it to look neat. Another name for this is intarsia knitting.
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Two Color Knitting
If you don’t twist the yarn when you two color knitting, you will have a gap forming where the colors meet which won’t look very attractive on your finished piece.
Here is a video to show you more clearly how to achieve two color knitting successfully.
Of course, there are many different things you can do with two color knitting besides intarsia or block knitting.
You could knit with two strands of wool together that are different colors to give your work a lovely textured look or you could knit stripes where you would simply swap colors at the end of the appropriate rows.
If you are knitting two different yarns together you must remember to knit two stitches together all the time just as you would normally knit your one stitch.
If you are knitting stripes and your stripes are short and you’re going to use the same color again, you can carry the unused yarn up the side, so it’s where you need it when you need it again without having to cut it off each time.
To carry the yarn, give the two colors a single twist at the edge every other row or so as this prevents the carried yarn from becoming too loose.
As you carry the yarn along the edge of your knitting, gently pull it taut, so it is wrapped in the ends of the rows. This will keep your edges smooth.
With some knitting stitches, the carried color may show a little. Adding a border can help hide this with a decorative finish. However, often the carrying is barely noticeable.
Always start the new color with the right side of your work facing you so that the finish is smooth. The wrong side of the work should look like this where the colors are joined.
Here are some books that can be ordered online that will give you ideas, help, and teach you how you can best knit with two or even more colors.
Simply click on the links or on the pictures to find out more about how to get your hands on the product.
Beginner’s Guide to Intarsia Knitting, A: 11 Simple Inspiring Projects with Easy to Follow Steps
Intarsia is a colorwork technique that enables you to introduce color into your knitting.
It is used commonly to work blocks of color or motifs that have a different color to the background, with separate balls or bobbins of yarn in the new color by your side as you work.
The key is to not carry the new yarn color across the back of the work; it must be ‘caught’ by the working yarn. This will prevent holes in your work and keep the knitted fabric of a single thickness. Intarsia cannot be worked in the round because the yarn is in the wrong position, you would have to cut and reattach the yarn on each row and thus be left with multiple ends to weave in.
With the beginner’s guide above you will learn to knit intarsia by Suzie Johnson, founder of The Wool Sanctuary.
The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques: Multicolor Yarns, Plain and Textured Stripes, Entrelac and Double Knitting, Stranding and Intarsia, Mosaic and Shadow Knitting, 150 Color Patterns
Knitting teacher and author Margaret Radcliffe presents a world of color techniques in a single comprehensive reference that you’ll consult every time you do two color knitting or even more than two colors are in play.
Knitters of every ability level will love the color-combining methods and professional secrets revealed in The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques. Multicolor knitting techniques are explained with step-by-step illustrations and photographs accompanied by instructive text.
Complete chapters on stripes, stitch effects, succeeding with multicolor yarns, stranded knitting, and intarsia covers the theory and how-to behind each method and offer creative solutions for handling tangled yarn, estimating yarn quantities of each color, holding on to all those ends, and employing stunning finishing techniques.
There is even a final chapter that describes more unusual techniques, such as helix, shadow, mosaic, and modular knitting.
Color Knitting with Confidence: Unlock the Secrets of Fair Isle, Intarsia, and More with 30 Vibrant Colorwork Techniques
Colorwork looks complicated, but with a little practice, knitters of all levels will find that it’s fun and easy to incorporate pops of color and delightful design into their projects.
In Color Knitting with Confidence, professional knitter Nguyen Le provides down-to-earth instruction for basic colorwork techniques that will have readers joining, floating, and weaving in no time! Inside, she provides:
- The basics on tools, types of yarn, chart reading, and color theory
- The various colorwork techniques including Intarsia, stripes, Fair Isle, and double knitting
- More than 30 projects that can be copied or enhanced
- Quick tips and tricks that make working with color a snap
Step-by-step instructions, charts and diagrams, and more than 100 full-color photos that both instruct and inspire.
So with a little practice, you will be knitting like a pro!
If you are lucky enough to own a knitting machine you will be able to do intarsia even more professionally.
