I learnt intarsia kniting the other day.. it's time consuming! I decided to give the "Brainwash" bag a try, and did one of the two panels tonight.
yeah, i think its pretty close. of course, all those threads will be "tucked" and it will be flat and felted.. lol.. so basically, it will look totally different.. haha. Not bad for a first go at it though!
felting is basically matted wool. It hides the stitches and makes a sort of smoother surface. It's lovely! It works for both crochet and knit.
Yeah, as Hipmoon said.. it is something that occurs when using animal fibers. Using hot water, a little soap, aggitation and a cold water rinse, the fibers basically lock together, kinda like dreadlocks, but for sheep! haha. It makes the garment thicker and stronger, hides the stitches, and makes it more water repellant. Intarsia.. the knitting method used in the swatch is a little different too. Basically, you knit across the rows, and normal.. but when you come to a different colour, you switch yarns. You can only stretch the unused yarn across 3 stitches of the other colour.. so any more than 3 stitches requires you to add another "bobbin" of yarn. At one point with that panel I had 8 bobbins hanging from the work. All of the bobbins and yarn stretching is done on the one side, so it's hidden once made into a bag... just like sewing..there is a right and wrong side. (thought maybe i should explain intarsia to the non-yarnies too.. haha!)
Wow, that is awesome. I can't believe that's your first try. I can crochet all sorts of designs. If I could put in on graph paper, I guess I could crochet it. The nice thing about doing designs in crochet (I've never heard the word 'intarsia' used in reference to crochet, only knitting) is that that there isn't really a wrong side. The yarn that would be behind the work during knitting is inside the working yarn in crochet. I do knit, but since it seems so much easier to make designs with crochet, I haven't really tried to do much intarsia knitting. I still can't believe that's your first shot at intarsia knitting. Keeping track of all of those bobbins seems like a pain in the butt. That bag is going to be gorgeous. Congratulations.
thanks Levi I crochet too.. and enjoy it as well. My first love is knitting though, as my Grandma taught me. I really love the whole new aspect of knitting that learning intarsia has opened up for me. I paint, so this is almost like painting with yarn. I bought myself a book of graph paper, and have been drawing up designs! I have some celtic knots, a couple skulls, and even the head of a Deadie Bear... hahah!
