As I look back on my earlier blog posts, I can’t believe how productive I used to be. I have no idea how I churned out so many projects week after week. I know my recent posts have been more about specific techniques / aspects of a project rather than an entirely new thing each week, but it’s been hard balancing life, so I hope you’ll accept this quick comparison of intarsia knitting and duplicate knitting.

• Appropriate weight yarn
• The appropriate gauge needles (either DPN or circular)

Any Pattern Involving Colourwork by Anybody

I am slowly chipping away on the Kitty Ankle Socks by Geena at Inorgaknit, and I am proud to present to you the face of my very first kitty. I ended up using intarsia knitting as this was what Geena had done herself. I figured if it worked for her, it would work for me, and I was not disappointed.

I think the important thing to remember with intarsia knitting is to watch the tension on the floating yarn. If you pull too tightly, it will make the stitches look wonky!

Because I am a curious person, I did end up trying duplicate knitting as well. I like that you don’t have to worry about the carried yarn, but I found that the second layer didn’t always look as clean as intarsia knitting, as I could sometimes see the layer underneath. This might be only a me problem though, as I’ve heard many people rave about duplicate knitting.

For me, I think the technique I use would be decided by the amount of colourwork to be done. If it was only a few stitches, I might use duplicate knitting to avoid having to switch yarn, but if it was more intensive, I would probably use intarsia knitting to keep everything clean. What would you choose? There’s also an interesting comparison video by Staci at Very Pink, and she definitely prefers duplicate knitting. Staci has a ton of high-quality knitting technique tutorials, so I recommend checking her website out, especially if there’s something you are hoping to troubleshoot.

Until next time, happy knitting!