I’ve been playing with a different colorwork crochet technique: intarsia crochet.
Intarsia differs from tapestry crochet in that the unworked colors are not carried along the back and crocheted over as you work. Instead, they are left hanging for you to pick back up when you get to the color again. This technique is great for adding colorwork in small bits. Instead of using multiple colors throughout the entire row or round, you can isolate the color changes to just one part of the whole project.
This piece was worked back and forth in rows. On the back of the piece you can see where the yarn jogs from row to row as it’s picked back up again. On the front of the piece you can see that due to the nature of crochet stitches, the colorwork lines aren’t quite as clean and distinct as knitting colorwork. Here I’ve used worsted weight yarn with a 5 mm hook. The smaller your yarn and the tighter your stitches, the smoother the color transitions will be.
In this particular project, to eliminate long strands of unworked yarn on the back, the pattern called for two separate strands of the main color (one strand of green on each side of the contrasting color diamond). If the diamonds were smaller, say only a few stitches at their center, the same ball of yarn for main color could be used on either side and stranded across the wrong side of the work, as in fair isle.
This pattern is from the May/June 2009 issue of Crochet Today magazine. I keep all of my crochet magazines, and they often come in handy a few years later! This plush snake was my cousin’s third birthday present. He loves to sleep with it, and he named it Puff the Dragon Snake after one of his favorite characters.
Pattern: Diamond Back Snake
Designer: Brett Bara
Source: Crochet Today! May/June 2009 (out of print)
