Colorwork Made Easy

Class Preview

Start knitting the eye-catching colorwork styles you love! Learn the essentials for stripes, slip-stitch colorwork, colorwork cables, intarsia and stranded knitting.

Simple Striped Colorwork

Meet designer Melissa Leapman and dive into colorwork with simple stripes. Melissa shows how to start new colors and carry up the yarn to minimize tails. With Melissa’s tips, the yarn you need is always on the correct side, and stripes in the round look even. Finally, learn a fun effect: ruching.

Deciphering Colorwork Charts

Colorwork charts show what your knitting will look like, providing an at-a-glance roadmap for your stitches. Melissa walks you through chart-reading basics, row by row, explaining stitch repeats and symbols. She also shares tips for keeping track of where you are.

Colorwork With Slip Stitch

Create fascinating color patterns and texture simply by slipping some stitches rather than knitting them. Practice with Melissa’s windowpane pattern, then master more ornate mosaic knitting. Try linen stitch and an embossed pattern by putting yarn floats on the right side of your knitting.

Cabled Colorwork With Slip Stitch

With Melissa’s guidance, learn how to create cables on top of a plain or slip-stitch background pattern. First knit the intriguing Flying Gull pattern with simple cables on stockinette, then tackle the more complex rope cables atop a tweedy slip-stitch pattern.

Intarsia Colorwork

Intarsia incorporates color in separate sections to form pictures in your knitting. Melissa shows how to manage your yarn supplies and make sure there are no gaps when you change colors. She also demonstrates duplicate stitch, perfect for adding designs after you’re done knitting.

Stranded Colorwork

Unlike intarsia, stranded colorwork, or Fair isle knitting, mingles colors across your work, with two colors per row. The nonworking colors are carried across the back, creating floats. Melissa shows how to hold your yarn and work floats loosely to prevent puckering.

Colorwork Cables

Learn how to work cables in two colors! Practice on a two-color swatch with Melissa’s guidance. She’s also designed a hat pattern that incorporates this technique so you can continue to practice and create a fun accessory at the same time!