Intarsia (knitting)

Common examples of intarsia include sweaters with large, solid-colour features like fruits, flowers, or geometric shapes.

Argyle socks and sweaters are normally done in intarsia, although the thin diagonal lines are often overlaid in a later step, using Swiss darning or sometimes just a simple backstitch.

The charts generally look like highly pixellated cartoon drawings, in this sense resembling dot-matrix computer graphics or needlepoint patterns (though usually without the colour nuance of the latter).

Executing intarsia "in-the-round" eliminates the need for seams and, in one case, turning the piece and working from the wrong side.

Priscilla Gibson-Roberts discusses four techniques for knitting intarsia in the round in her book, Ethnic Socks & Stockings.