Once you can read a chart, you know exactly where each colour goes. What the chart does not tell you is how to physically get two colours into the same row, and there is more than one way to do that. Which technique you reach for depends on the shape of the motif, not personal preference: a repeating pattern, a single large block of colour, and a tiny isolated detail are all knit completely differently.
Stranded colorwork (Fair Isle) 🧶
Stranded knitting is what most people picture when they hear "colorwork." You knit with both colours in play at once, picking up whichever one the chart calls for and carrying the other loosely across the back of the work until you need it again. It is the standard technique for anything that repeats across a row: allover patterns, borders, and small motifs.
The strand you are not using right now is called a float, and how you manage it is most of the skill. Under about five stitches, a float can simply run loose across the back with no extra work. Longer than that, catch it: twist the working yarn around the carried strand every three or four stitches, so it does not hang loose enough to snag a finger or a ring later. Keep your tension even and slightly loose rather than tight: floats pulled too snug are the most common cause of your gauge running too tight.
Our Difficulty panel scores exactly the things that make stranded colorwork harder: how many colours are in play per row, how long the floats run, and whether a motif sits isolated instead of repeating.
Intarsia 🧵
Intarsia is the technique for a large block of colour that does not repeat across the row: a single graphic motif, a colour-blocked panel, a picture knit into a sweater front. Instead of carrying yarn across the back, you work each colour block from its own separate ball or bobbin, and twist the two yarns around each other at every colour change to avoid leaving a hole. Nothing gets carried behind the work, so there are no floats to manage, but you will end up juggling several small balls of yarn at once on a busy chart. It comes in two working styles, and which one you reach for depends on whether the piece is knit flat or in the round.
Intarsia in the round. Working intarsia on a circular needle takes an extra trick, because you cannot simply turn your work at the end of a row the way flat intarsia allows. Instead you carry each colour block's yarn behind a small section and twist it into place on the return pass, so the join stays invisible from the right side. It takes more planning than flat intarsia, but it lets you add a single graphic motif to a sweater body without ever breaking your round.
Intarsia worked flat. On flat pieces, intarsia is more straightforward: you turn your work at the end of every row as usual, twisting each colour's yarn around its neighbour at the colour change. This is the version most knitters learn first, and it is the one to reach for on a cardigan front, a scarf, or any piece you are already knitting back and forth.
The rule of thumb: if the same two colours repeat every few stitches across the row, reach for stranded knitting. If one colour appears as a single solid shape with no repeat, intarsia is the better fit, and often the only practical one.
Slip stitch colorwork
Slip stitch colorwork gets you a second colour without ever knitting two colours in the same row. You knit a full row in colour A, then on the next row you knit some stitches in colour B and simply slip the rest, moving them from the left needle to the right without working them, so colour A shows through underneath. Only one yarn is ever in play at a time, so there are no floats to manage and no extra balls of yarn to juggle. It is a good fit for a small, isolated shape, like a single logo or letter that does not repeat across the row: the same situation that would otherwise send you to intarsia, but without the separate bobbins.
Duplicate stitch 🩡
Duplicate stitch is not really knitting at all: it is embroidery worked on top of a finished stockinette fabric, after the piece is off the needles. You thread a tapestry needle with the new colour and trace over each existing stitch, following the path of the knit V so the stitch underneath is fully covered. It is the slowest technique on this page, and it only works on plain stockinette, but it is also the most forgiving: there is no tension to manage while you knit and no extra yarn to carry, and if you make a mistake, you simply unpick the embroidery and try again without touching your actual knitting. Reach for it when you want to add one small detail after the piece is finished, or fix something you did not chart in from the start.
Which technique should you use? 🤔
| Your motif looks like | Use this technique |
|---|---|
| A pattern that repeats every few stitches across the row | Stranded (Fair Isle) |
| One large solid block or a single graphic motif | Intarsia (in the round or flat) |
| A small isolated shape, like a logo or letter, charted in from the start | Slip stitch (or intarsia) |
| A small detail added after the piece is already finished | Duplicate stitch |
| Alternating stitches in ribbing, like a two-colour cuff | Corrugated ribbing (a stranded variant worked in knit and purl) |
Our chart maker does not care which technique you use. It draws the colour layout, tells you how much yarn each colour needs, and applies the repeat to your garment. The technique is entirely your decision once you see the shape of what you are knitting.
Ready to chart your own motif?
Technique is only half the picture. If you have not already, start with how to read a knitting chart, row by row.
Then build and place your own with Dreamknit PRO, with a 14-day money-back guarantee if it turns out not to be for you. Every technique above has its own video in our full colorwork playlist on YouTube, so bookmark it for next time.
