Learn to Knit Colorwork: Fair Isle, Intarsia, and Duplicate Stitch

As the temperatures drop, stores begin selling their coziest knitwear. I’ve noticed so many hats, sweaters, scarves, and mittens featuring gorgeous colorwork. With the right skills, you can knit these colorful items at home! Here are our handy FAQs on three colorwork techniques to make your winter brighter.

Fair Isle knitting, also known as stranded knitting, refers to color work that is a repeating pattern worked over a group of stitches and rows. Click here for more information. Want a few examples of this technique? Check out this blog post with pattern suggestions.

Intarsia is a colorwork technique that is used to create individual sections of color in one piece. Click here to find out more about intarsia.

If you want to add some patterning after your knitting is done, try duplicate stitch; click here for a tutorial. It’s great for adding letters (such as those in this chart). I even use it to cover up the occasional mistake!

Want to utilize your new colorwork skills? Try searching our PatternFinder for great patterns; just type Fair Isle, intarsia, or duplicate stitch into the search box.