Pattern help -- adding color

I’m knitting a basic scarf for a friend with a pattern of alternating squares of seed stitch and a garter stitch border. I’d like to do the seed stitch squares in a different color yarn but I’m not sure what method would be best – should I try Intarsia or Fair Isle? I’d prefer Intarsia simply because I’m not a huge fan of the strings crossing the back of the piece that develop using Fair Isle, but I don’t know that my skills are good enough yet to attempt Intarsia. The pattern will look like this: (g = garter stitch, x = seed stitch square, s = stockinette)

gggxxxxxsssssxxxxxsssssggg
gggxxxxxsssssxxxxxsssssggg
gggxxxxxsssssxxxxxsssssggg
gggsssssxxxxxsssssxxxxxggg
gggsssssxxxxxsssssxxxxxggg
gggsssssxxxxxsssssxxxxxggg
ggggggggggggggggggggggggg
ggggggggggggggggggggggggg

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Emma

This could be done with stranded knitting because you are not carrying the color more than 5 stitches. If you want to do that be sure to keep the floats very long, do this by stretching out the stitches on the right hand needle just before you begin a new color. I hear you on the strands showing though.

You could do this intarsia and squares of intarsia are the easiest to do. You would use bits of yarn just long enough to do each square and little balls for the edges. I’m assuming you want to make the garter and the St st the same color and the seed stitch a contrast color. Whatever it works the same way.

You begin with the garter border at the end and then work the first edge garter stitches with it, then take the piece of yarn you want for the first block and start working with it. It will leave a little hole, but don’t worry about that, knit the five stitches and drop that color and take another strand of yarn and begin working with it. You do that all the way across. Each color change will have its own ball or strand of yarn.

At the end of the row you turn and start back dropping and picking up colors as needed. Always pick up the new color from underneath the one you are dropping so that the yarns form an X, if you don’t you will have a slit at the “join”. You will have a lot of ends to work in, but if you really want to do this it is doable. I have to say I have never done intarsia with seed stitch, it may be slightly odd looking where the two colors join, but maybe not. Give it a try and see what happens.

There is a free video about basic intarsia on this site. I think it is under advanced techniques. I think there is one on stranding too (maybe called Fair Isle).

Have fun.

When you work the first row of the seed stitch in a different color, try just knitting all the stitches in the first row, and start the seed stitch on the next. It will avoid the dreaded different-color-purl-bump, and won’t look odd at all.

Thanks for the suggestion! I’m doing a “sampler” show my friend a variety of ways in which the color can be added and I don’t think the dreaded different-color-purl bump will be as big of an issue since I’m using a multi-hued yarn. So far the intarsia looks the neatest (but was a pain and a half to knit just a small section!) but I’m think that what will ultimately work best will be to double-knit the whole thing. Unfortunately, I’m having a heck of a time trying to figure out a way to do garter-stitch for the borders using double-knitting so I don’t create alternating rows of color that doesn’t involve knitting backwards (knitting onto the left-hand stick). Any tips?

Never mind. Just figured out I was crossing my yarns. (duh!)