Intarsia

The loop join is a perfect choice to work intarsia – you take care of all the yarn ends as you go. The new colour may be required to be joined on the right or wrong side of the knitting. Equally, you may need to end the yarn on either side. Here are detailed instructions for all 4 possible cases using the loop join (A, B, C and D), as well as 2 cases for using the sliding loop join.

The loop join

A. New colour starts on the right side of Stocking stitch.

1. Make loops at the ends of the other yarns to be used (see main article).  2. To twist the new yarn with the current yarn (i.e. intarsia technique), pass the loop end under the current yarn.  3. Hang the loop on the right needle.  4. Knit the next stitch using new yarn: the previous yarn is held between the loop and stitch. Tighten the new yarn to adjust the stitch size.  5-7. When required, join the next colour yarn by repeating steps 2-4 above.  8. After completing the first row with two yarn changes, there are two stitches doubled with their respective loop ends.
9. In the next row, on the wrong side of knitting, work as usual to the doubled stitch.  10. Purl the stitch and the loop together as one using p2tog.  11. Twist the two yarns as usual for intarsia technique: the current yarn is over and to the right, the next yarn is from under and to the left.  12. Continue to the next colour change. 13-14. Repeat steps 10-11 again.

B. New colour starts on the wrong side of Stocking stitch.

Prepare by making the loops at the ends of yarns to be used (see main instructions/article).
1. To twist the new yarn with the current yarn, lay the loop end over the current yarn and hang the loop on the right needle.  2. Bring the previous yarn to the front and to the right.  3. Purl the next stitch using new yarn, tighten the yarn to adjust the stitch size. There are two loops of the new colour on the right needle, which count as one stitch. They are indicated by the square bracket ]. Continue as usual.  4-6. When required, join the next colour yarn by repeating steps 1-3 above. 7. After completing the first row with two yarn changes, there are two stitches doubled with their respective loop ends.
8. In the next row, on the right side of knitting, work as usual to the doubled stitch.  9-10. Knit the stitch and the loop together as one using ssk.  Twist the two yarns as usual as for intarsia technique: the current yarn is over the next yarn.  11-12. Continue as usual to the next doubled stitch and repeat steps 9-10 again. 13. The result.

C. New colour finishes on the right side of Stocking stitch.

1. To finish, work to the last stitch for this colour yarn, and pierce the yarn with a removable marker to mark the end of this colour.  2. Cut or tear the yarn 5 cm (2”) after the marker.  3. Unravel a few stitches to have enough yarn length to make the loop [10-20 cm (6-8”)].  4. Fold over the yarn and make the loop where the marker is positioned (see main instructions).  5. Reknit the unravelled stitches and pick up the loop end with the tip of the left needle.  6. Bring the next yarn to the front between the needles.  7. Slip the end loop to the right needle.  8. Bring the next yarn to the back.  9. Start to knit with the next colour.
10. In the next row, on the wrong side of knitting, purl to the doubled stitch.  11. Work the doubled stitch using p2tog tbl: purl the stitch and the loop together as one through the back loops. 12. Continue as usual.

D. New colour finishes on the wrong side of Stocking stitch.

1. To finish, work to the last stitch for this colour yarn, and pierce the yarn with a removable marker to mark the end of this colour.  2. Cut or tear the yarn 5 cm (2”) after the marker and unravel few stitches to have enough yarn length to make the loop [10-20 cm (6-8”)].  3. Make the loop (see main instructions).  4. Reknit unravelled stitches and pick up the loop end with the tip of left needle.  5. Bring the next yarn to the back between the needles.  6. Slip the end loop to the right needle and bring the next yarn to the front.  7. Start to purl with the next colour. 
8. In the next row, on the right side of knitting, knit to the doubled stitch.  9. Work the doubled stitch as k2tog: knit the stitch and the loop together as one.

The sliding loop join

I should say here that the sliding loop join can also be used for intarsia. Although it might appear more involved than the loop join, the result is even neater. Here’s how to do it.

1. To start a new colour, make a sliding loop around the current yarn (see main instructions).  2. Slide it to the place where the new colour starts and continue with the new yarn. There is no need to twist the strands. 3. The arrow shows the position of the loop end of the new yarn.
4. In the next row continue to work in intarsia technique as usual. 5. Twist the yarns anticlockwise. 6. The arrow points to the sliding loop.
1. To finish working with the colours, first work the last row with these yarns: the first main colour and the contrast colour yarns both end here.  2. Pierce the yarns with the removable markers to mark the ends of these colours. 3. Cut or tear the yarn 5 cm (2”) after the markers and unravel a few stitches to have enough yarn length to make the loops [10-20 cm (6-8”)].  4. Make the sliding loops around the consecutive yarns (see main instructions). This can be done one at a time as you work the row. 5. Reknit unravelled stitches. There are no ends to twist: the sliding loop fixes the yarn end. 6. The last row is reworked. 7. The pink circles indicate the four loop ends at the start and finish of the new yarns. 8-9. The finished view from the wrong and right side respectively.

The first picture below demonstrates how the intarsia sample will look if worked in the usual way – with the yarn ends. In the second picture is the sample made by using The sliding loop method.

The intarsia samples were made using:

Re:treat Chunky Roving by West Yorkshire Spinners
153 yards (140 metres) / 100 g 
100% Wool