Intarsia knitting for your stockings

Intarsia is a colorwork knitting technique used to create the character designs in our Christmas stocking knitting patterns. Don't be intimidated by intarsia knitting! We love to create stockings with intarsia and if you're a beginner, here are some basic steps to get started:

Unlike Fair Isle knitting, intarsia does not carry yarn across the back—instead, each color section uses its own separate yarn supply. Here’s a simple guide to get you started!

Prepare Your Yarn

For each color block in your design, wind a separate small ball of yarn 

If two sections of the same color are far apart, use separate yarn strands to avoid long floats.

Start Knitting

Cast on stitches as usual and knit the background color until you reach the point where the color change happens.

Changing Colors

When you reach the stitch where the new color begins:

Drop the old yarn (leave it hanging).

Pick up the new yarn from under the old yarn (this twists them together to prevent gaps).

Continue knitting with the new color.

Switching Back to the Original Color

When you need to return to the previous color:

Drop the current yarn.

Pick up the old yarn from under the new yarn (twisting them again).

Continue knitting.

Managing Yarn Tangles

Keep yarn strands untangled by turning your work clockwise after each row.

If using bobbins, let them hang freely to avoid twisting.

Finishing Off

When your design is complete, weave in all loose ends on the wrong side using a tapestry needle.