Entrelac

Entrelac is a knitting technique used to create a textured diamond pattern.

While the result resembles basket-woven strips of knitted fabric, the actual material comprises interconnected squares on two different orientations.

The knitter picks up stitches along the side edge of an existing square and knits along them, knitting or purling two together as needed each time they reach the live stitches along the top of the neighboring square.

Because of the picked-up stitches, the back of stockinette entrelac is generally less attractive than the front, as seen in the photo to the left.

Entrelac fabric is often felted to create the illusion of an intarsia argyle pattern; the felting flattens the entrelac texture but leaves the different-colored squares, as if the object were knitted in different colors at the same time.