What is intarsia Colorwork?

Intarsia is a knitting colorwork technique that involves knitting with blocks of color. They can be in any shape or design you like, but the key is that when you change colors, you don't strand the colors you're not working with across the back as is done in stranded knitting (also known as Fair Isle).

What is the difference between Colorwork and intarsia?

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.

What is intarsia technique?

Intarsia is a knitting technique used to create patterns with multiple colours. As with the woodworking technique of the same name, fields of different colours and materials appear to be inlaid in one another, fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

What is the difference between intarsia and Fair Isle knitting?

At its most basic, the difference lies in where the colors are in your pattern. If the colors run across the width of your knitting, you'll be working stranded, or Fair Isle knitting. If the colors are more blocked off, and don't show up throughout the row, then you'll be doing intarsia knitting.

What is intarsia fabric?

Intarsia knit fabric is a patterned single knit fabric (jersey-based, rib-based,or purl-based fabric). Intarsia knit fabric is made of knitting multi-coloured yarns. The Intarsia Knit fabric has the same course knitted in different colors with different yarns.

Colorwork: Intarsia Basics

What is stone intarsia?

Stone Intarsia describes a method of cutting and fitting together small pieces of stone to create unique designs primarily for setting in jewelry. Showcasing the beautiful colors, patterns and properties of natural stones, this is also called "Rockhound Intarsia".

Is intarsia knitting hard?

Intarsia knitting isn't hard, but there are some basic rules to know. Unlike fair isle knitting, the yarn is not stranded across the back of the work in intarsia knitting. Instead, you have a separate ball of yarn for each area of color.

What is the difference between intarsia and marquetry?

The technique of intarsia inlays sections of wood (at times with contrasting ivory or bone, or mother-of-pearl) within the solid wood matrix of floors and walls or of tabletops and other furniture; by contrast marquetry assembles a pattern out of veneers glued upon the carcass.

What are intarsia panels?

intarsia, Form of wood inlay. Italian intarsia, or inlaid mosaic of wood, which probably derived from East Asian ivory and wood inlay, found its richest expression during the Renaissance in Italy (c. 1400–1600). It was often used in panels over the backs of choir stalls and in private studies and chapels of princes.

How do you prevent gaps in intarsia?

With intarsia, you use a color only for as long as it's needed, twist that yarn around the next color to prevent a gap, then continue along the row with the new color, leaving the original color behind.

What is wood intarsia?

Intarsia woodworking is the art of creating a mosaic-like picture from pieces of wood. Different species of wood are selected for their color and cut to size using a scroll saw. The woodworker can create an illusion of depth by carefully selecting the grain pattern and direction of each individual piece.