Look what I'm knitting for Clementine: a fantastic flower frock! All that intarsia...you should see the back! So many ends. It's crazy. It went much quicker than I was thinking it would, though. Something about color work makes the knitting really fly. I have to knit the back still, and I'm just going to do it plain, no intarsia. I thought that would make it go faster, but I'm not so sure about that, actually. No flowers to watch grow, along with the knitting, just lots and lots of green. I'm using some leftover Wollmeise for this dress, by the way. I love the colors. I love how each color goes so well together. I'm looking forward to adding embroidery at the end, like the pattern calls for. Overall, it's a very fun and rewarding project.
I've owned Lucinda Guy's book for forever, and have never knit anything out of it before now, because all that intarsia scared me to death. But I'm discovering it's really not so bad. The main key, I've discovered, is to use 24" pieces of yarn for all that color work, and just let them dangle. Do NOT mess with yarn bobbins, no, no. That will make you scream and throw your knitting across the room. Speaking from experience, I promise. No, let those ends dangle, adding in a new one when you run out, occasionally pulling your hand through the back to easily untangle them. Piece of (extremely messy) cake. And don't bother with intarsia if you are scared of weaving in ends. That's going to be the most time consuming part of this project. But I'll tell you a secret: I don't mind that all that much. I use one of those gold darning needles, grab a pair of scissors, and sit back and let a child read to me, listen to them practice piano, or I watch a movie, and before I know it, it's all done. Totally time consuming yet mindless work.
Well, that's my plug for intarsia knitting. Go for it if you want a new challenge and there's a project calling your name. Don't be scared of it for years, like I was. Just prepare yourself for some messy looking knitting before all is said and done. It'll look good in the end. (This isn't my first foray into intarsia knitting, by the way. I'm still working on this, having finished the front and knit half of the back. One day I will finish this loveliness. Maybe it'll be the next thing I knit.)
