How to knit argyle — Intarsia, explained

 A pattern knitted into the fabric is different from one printed on it. The argyle in this knit is intarsia — a technique where each color block is worked from its own separate yarn and joined stitch by stitch, so the pattern exists within the structure of the knit, not on its surface.

This is why an intarsia argyle looks the way it does: The colors meet cleanly, with no carried yarn floats on the back, no thickening where one tone transitions into another. Eggplant and cognac are knitted as equals, each in its own field, interlocking along the argyle lines. It's slower and more difficult than a printed or jacquard pattern — and the reason the knit feels thoughtfully crafted on both sides, inside and out.


Intarsia is the technique for autumn because it belongs to substantial knitwear — it needs a certain weight to truly hold the color blocks. An argyle like this could not be worked in fine summer-weight knit. It arrives now because the season is ready for it.