That’s right, I’m blogging today about a finished object! But before I dive in and share my first FO of 2021 (that I can tell you about, at least), I want to say a mahoosive thank you for all your enthusiasm and support for Confident Knitting! We have been so excited to share this with you, and it’s been amazing to see how excited you are too — frankly, we’ve been blown away! And on that note, I just want to quickly let you know that, if you’ve had your eye on the Confident Knitting Spring Kit (or indeed, the Ultimate Confident Knitting package) supplies are now fairly limited. We are doing our best to get additional stock, but we don’t have firm dates on when that will make it to us, so what’s currently in stock may be it until well after the first KAL has kicked off. You can browse the Confident Knitting collection here, and when you use that link it will apply a small discount to your purchase of Confident Knitting. Alternatively you can use the code CONFIDENTJEN at the checkout.

Now, let’s get onto the intarsia!

You might have spied my Watercolor Cowl here on the blog or over on Instagram. The pattern is from MDK Field Guide No. 16 Painterly, which, if you missed it, is chock full of awe-inspiring intarsia from colourwork master Kaffe Fassett. Given how much I adore my Kaffe cowl from his first Field Guide with Modern Daily Knitting, Master Class, casting on for a Watercolor Cowl was pretty much a no-brainer!

Once I got the pattern established, this was definitely relaxing, “just one more repeat”, kind of knitting. But even better than that, it comes with an added bonus of serious colour joy. Delving into my grab-bag of yarn to pick the next contrast colour each time is an exploration. This is exactly what I’ve needed on my needles over the past few months! Between the Something To Knit Together Winter collection and prepping for Confident Knitting, I’ve not had much time for not-directly-work knitting (I was going to say fun knitting, but actually work knitting can be fun too) … and when I have, I’ve wanted it to be something I can really luxuriate in!

Anyway, I’m pleased as punch that I’ve got a new Kaffe-tastic cowl to add to my wardrobe — my Kaffe Coins cowl was almost certainly my most worn handknit of 2020. Hopefully I’ll wear my Watercolor Cowl just as much.

And if you’d like to cast on for your own Watercolor Cowl — or are hoping to delve into any of the intarsia projects in MDK Field Guide No. 16: Painterly, I’ve got a few video tutorials that you might find useful on your intarsia journey!

The first two are some basic intarsia tips that will make your intarsia-knitting experience more enjoyable. In the below video, I show how to estimate how much yarn you’ll need to pull off for a segment of intarsia. Estimating Yarn Lengths Tutorial (YouTube link).

And in this second video, I show you how to splice two ends of yarn together if you find you’ve not pulled off quite enough! Felted Join Tutorial (YouTube link).

There’s nothing more frustrating than preparing to work your next colour and realising your yarn isn’t quite in the right place. In this tutorial, I show you how to make sure your yarn is just where you need it: Putting Yarn in the Right Place (YouTube link).

And this final video shows you how to work intarsia joins on the diagonal. I love the diagonally bisected squares of the Watercolor Cowl, but I do remember when I first tried intarsia, a diagonal join gave me a bit of trouble. It’s worked in just the same was as a normal intarsia join, but things look ever so slightly different, so I take you through step-by-step in Intarsia Joins on the Diagonal (YouTube link).

I hope you’ll find these intarsia videos useful. They are also all available over on our YouTube channel. Our stock of MDK Field Guide No. 16: Painterly is now replenished. And you can browse the other Field Guides we have in stock over in the online shop.

Thank you once again for all your Confident Knitting enthusiasm. I’m really looking forward to sharing the amazing projects that our team has dreamt up for you. Happy knitting all!