How to Work Intarsia

Intarsia is knitting pictures in blocks of colour — every area of colour gets its own little ball or bobbin of yarn, and the blocks lock together as you go, so the front of the work is one smooth, flat picture with no strands trailing behind it. It’s how the kangaroo road sign is knitted right into our blankets, beanies and cushion covers, and how the Aussie animals live inside the baby blankets and sweaters, knitted into the fabric itself instead of being sewn on afterwards.

Step by step

Set up a separate length of yarn for every block of colour: small balls, proper bobbins, or simple butterflies wound around your fingers. Three colours across a wide panel can still mean a dozen or more lengths on a busy row — that’s perfectly normal, and our road sign pieces manage with just three colours.
Work flat, in rows: intarsia is a back-and-forth technique. Read the chart right to left on knit rows and left to right on purl rows, one square per stitch (see our How to Read a Chart page for the full tour).
At every colour join, twist the yarns together: bring the new colour up from underneath the old one before you knit with it — on every join, on every row, whichever direction you’re travelling. That little twist is the whole technique; skip it and the colour blocks part company into slits.
Leave the old colour hanging down the back and pick the new one up from below it — don’t carry colours across the back of the work. Long carried strands belong to Fair Isle; intarsia blocks each keep their own yarn, which is why the back of intarsia shows neat block edges instead of floats.
Keep your bobbins short and tidy: about an arm’s length of yarn per bobbin is plenty to work with. At the end of each row, give the dangling bunch one gentle untwist — turning your work the same way every time keeps the tangles rare.
Mind your tension at the joins most of all. A stitch pulled too tight puckers the picture; one left too loose gapes at the colour change. A gentle tug on the first stitch of each new block, checked from the back, snugs the join up invisibly.
Count chart squares against stitches as you go, and tick off the rows. Intarsia mistakes hide politely until the picture emerges, so a row that’s been counted and ticked is a row you can trust.
When the piece is finished, weave every tail into its own colour block on the back — never across a join into the next colour, where a dark tail hiding under a pale block can shadow through to the front.
Finish with a gentle block (see our How to Block Your Work page). Intarsia pictures square up beautifully once pinned out to size, and the small tension wobbles around the joins relax right out in the bath.

Patterns that use it

Kangaroo Road Sign Blanket Knitting Pattern | Aussie Intarsia Throw Chart 100x130cm DK PDF

Kangaroo Road Sign Beanie & Scarf Knitting Pattern | Aussie Intarsia Set, 3 Sizes, DK PDF

Baby Blanket Knitting Pattern — 6 Aussie Animal Blankets: Koala Wombat Kangaroo Platypus Quokka Echidna, DK PDF, Cot and Pram Size

Baby Sweater Knitting Pattern | 4 Aussie Animal Sweaters and Cardigan PDF, Koala Wombat Platypus Kangaroo, Sizes 0-18 Months

Aussie Flag Baby Blanket Knitting Pattern | Knitted-In Flag Panel, 70 x 90 cm Baby Blanket, Digital PDF

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Common mistakes

Forgetting to twist the yarns at a colour change, just once in a long row. That single skipped twist leaves a slit where the blocks should lock, and it only shows when the picture is well under way.
Carrying a colour across the back instead of giving each block its own bobbin. Carried strands belong to Fair Isle — in intarsia they pucker the block, waste yarn, and can shadow through to the front.
Weaving a finished tail across a join into the next colour block. A dark tail tucked behind a pale block shows through as a shadow; every tail stays inside its own colour.

Tina’s tips

Turn the work the same way at the end of every row, and give the dangling bobbins one gentle untwist as you go. Tangles in intarsia are mostly a habit problem, and this is the habit that fixes them.
Give the first stitch of each new colour one small tug, then glance at the join from the back every few rows. A join checked early snugs up invisibly; a join checked at the end has a hundred rows of company.