i hope you find out the answers b/c i'm so totally clueless, too! but at least you're brave enough to try, unlike moi.

You should buy Barbara Walker's Learn-To-Knit Afghan Book. You knit swatches for every technique in knitting, sew them together and presto! you have an afghan and you are a knitting technical marvel. Available at www.schoolhousepress.com

Ok, I can't get past row 3 of the magic scarf pattern, but I have knitting books. One says of intarsia "For multicolored designs, use bobbins to hold the yarns neatly and stop them tangling". I think you start a new yarn everytime you change colors. But I am still working on a basic purl stitch, so I hope I am not confusing you more. And yours looks good on the front, don't worry about the back. :)

Wow. I don't care what you say ... I still bow down before you. You can make yarn color change not only mid project (see roll brim hat!) but now also mid rows!! That's like magic or something.

Ahhh, to someday be good enough to even be considered Remedial!! (no jealousy here ... nope, not I! Cuz I PREFER all one color knitted objects ... oh yes I do)

Sigh. :)

When you do figure it out, please write a recipe for it .. because me? TOTALLY confused. There was almost crying, until there was wine. ;-)

There is a book in the KnitPicks catalog titled "From Swatch to Blocking" that might help you, although I think it's more for Fair Isle.

I found good intarsia instructions in "100 Afghan Squares to Knit" by Debbie Abrahams (I got it at Borders).

http://www.needlebeetle.com/free/handtips.htm
http://www.sweaterscapes.com/intars.htm

Kaffe Fassett (rhymes with "safe asset") has great details in his books, since his knit designs are almost exclusively intarsia. IIRC, he doesn't use bobbins, prefers to use lengths of yarn that he pulls free of tangles. (I guess he splices when he needs more yarn?)

Good luck!

Here's an online tutorial for you:
http://www.sweaterscapes.com/intars.htm

(I've only done intarsia once and I think I'll just stick to stranded colorwork...the intarsia has so many ends to weave in!)

Intarsia? I hear they have a salve for that now...

There is a calendar that has a different stich each day. It's not a swatch, but is interesting.

365 Knitting Stitches a Year: Perpetual Calendar
$19.95 (U.S.)Martingale & Company

Now here's a neat idea. A calendar that never ends, 365 color stitch patterns and instructions, and daily knitting inspiration...all in package! The flip calendar sits on your desk and since there are no days of the week, June 22 will always be June 22 no matter what the year.

The intarsia method just means that each section of color has its own ball of yarn. For small areas you can pull out the amount that you think you'll need and wind it onto a bobbin, just so you don't have a million balls hanging from the piece you're working on.

To try to be a little more clear ...

For that diamond pattern you need 3 balls of yarn, 2 whites and a pink.

Cast on with one of the white balls and knit your 6 rows of stockinette. On the next row use that original ball to knit the first white stitches(it looks like ...7?), attach the pink ball and knit your 1 pink stitch, attach the second white ball and knit the last 7? stitches. On the next row, continue with that second white ball and purl the first 6? stitches, use the pink ball to purl the next 3 stitches, and then use the first white ball to finish the row. Continue until you finish the chart.

I LOVE your blog, I just have to resist reading it during classes when I'm not supposed to be laughing out loud.

Wow. That looks awesome. Good for you for trying it out.

And thanks to everyone who posted websites with info. Always good to know which ones are helpful.

I always learn something useful at Aunt Purl's.

Emma's directions are good, just remember to twist the two balls whenever you change from one ball to the other so you don't have holes where you change colours. (example: when you pick up the pink, wrap the yarn around the white you were just using before starting to knit with it.)

Hi Laurie, remember you are the boss of your knitting! I haven't done intarsia since the 80's, but here is what I remember. You can strand as long as it's only a few stitches and you can maintain your gauge, and it won't get caught on whatever you are wearing underneath. When you strand, you only have to twist the yarns every 4-5 stitches or so, not every stitch. When you feel stranding is too much of a pain because the second color is too wide, start with another ball of yarn on the other side of the second color. Don't cut your yarn, you'll need it to be there on the row back. You are either left with a lot of tails to weave in, or with the stranding & twisting every few stitches. Also twist the 2 yarns when you switch colors so you don't creat a little hole right there. Untwist your balls of yarn often because they will tangle! Good luck and don't go crazy!

If you can find good instructions, you'll have to share your source with the rest of us! But I have to say, you are so much more adventurous than I am because I can't convince myself to brave the intarsia waters without the help of a special intarsia instructor or something. Way to go, you!

I have knitted for like 9 gajillion years and I HATE intarsia AND Fair Isle! I will just about (not 100%) skip patterns with them. But, go to about.knittingabout.com or knittinghelp.com. They may have some stuff. I want the cake!

Intarsia? Well, don't scratch at it, girl-o!
Sounds like you need a copy of the Mon Tricot book of knitting stitches, often found at garage sales and thrift stores. I'm keeping my copy, but if I find another one I'll let you know. It has big swatch pictures of every pattern and stitch, right beside the directions - Yay!

O.k., you got THE intarsia website: www.sweaterscapes.com/intars.htm. It is the best one I've found--and that includes expensive books.

As for knitting swatches, Leisure Arts has a great book--99 Knit Stitches. It's relatively cheap, about $12, and it has 99 knit stitches (duh). Here Leisure Arts website with a view of the book: www.leisurearts.com/crafts_needlework/item_detail.asp?item_num=2973&search=1

I found my copy at Michaels and I've seen them at Joanns and Walmart. My mom is using it to make an afghan of different stitch squares. It's looking pretty cool.

Once you get the hang of it, Intarsia ain't so bad--that is, if you can stand the bobbles.

Intarsia sounds like a crazy std you don't want ANY part of....I'm just saying.
I have a very private secret that about my kntting that I'm going to share with you and the internets about swatches. I don't swatch. But, when I'm trying to learn a new technique or something along those lines I make dish clothes using the technique and lion brand kitchen cotten . I have a dishcloth for every day of the month and am working my way up to every day of the year (would cut down on the laundry don't you think?).

Wow! How impressive is your knitting?

I would not even brave intarsia without an instructor, coke and fries (those are my wine and chocolate). And possibly even medication.

I can't even get that slipped stitch color thing you did...

Do knitting classes come in remedial?

intarsia? isn't there a telethon for that yet?

Here is another "Knitty Gritty" episonde. http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/shows_dkng/episode/0,2046,DIY_18180_32901,00.html
It looks like their intarsia episode is showing tomorrow. I also have some info on intarsia in my "Vogue Knitting, The Ultimate Knitting Book" Which is a great reference book.

I second the idea of the Barbara Walker Learn-to-Knit Afghan Book. You could look at my copy if you'd like to check it out first. I'll bring it to the Farmer's Market and everything. I have not yet tried intarsia, so I have no advice there.

http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/1579901727/702-0427059-3200854

Purl - This is a great book; one sweater is made totally out of SWATCHES! How cool is that??

And the pencillin clears up the intarsia.

http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/1579901727/702-0427059-3200854

Purl - This is a great book; one sweater is made totally out of SWATCHES! How cool is that??

And the pencillin clears up the intarsia.

Laurie - you can dowload a FREE VIDEO on how to do intarsia on www.knittinghelp.com - it's so freaking cool you will crap yourself. seriously.

Yes. Lots of bobbins hanging off the thing are exactly what you need. I've been known to use upwards of 20 of them, but had to stop because people laughed at my large bald patches. I never bother with actual bobbins, though. If it's a really small patch of color I just let the yarn dangle. If it's bigger I roll it into a little ball and secure it with one of those metal-free hair elastics (when I need more yarn I remove the elastic, unwind some, and replace the elastic).

If your color patch is 5 or fewer stitches wide you don't even need to bother with stranding, just carry your main color across the back (don't forget to twist though). With skinny little color patches you can also do intarsia in the round by the simple expedient of dragging the yarn back across to the beginning of its patch again, meanwhile going merrily round and round with the main color.

Am I making you dizzy? Sorry. I'll stop now.

I think it's great you are teaching yourself intarsia, and your swatch looks fabulous! Who cares what it looks like on the back. Something I mean to try but not now when I am full cabling love mode.

My favorite book for "What the hell are they talking about?" is "Knitting in Plain English" by Maggie Righetti. Someone showed me how to knit and purl in person, but this book told me about all that other stuff everyone seems to already know.

It doesn't cover intarsia, but it does talk about a lot of other things, including fair isle and joining seams and all the different decreases and increases and cast ons and cast offs and just how they are all different. Plus any book with a chapter "Buttonholes are Bastards" can't be bad.

Ah yes...Intarsia. I had to get innoculated once when I caught THAT bug.

I will reiterate what I've said to you in the past....crochet is easier....crochet is faster...intarsia in crochet is even better than knitting!!! Stop by, I'll give you a quick lesson.

Hugs!

Cutting the yarn is good but not on every row. You need two things of the main colour going, one on each side of your little diamond. So make 2 little balls of the main colour before you start. when you start the diamond drop (don't cut) the main colour and join the second ball on the other side, as you come back you drop and pick up in the same way. Once you get past the diamond keep knitting with whichever ball you are using.

Note, at ever join make sure you twist the two yarns around each other to prevent holes from appearing. There is a way to make sure this doesn't end up with a lot of twisted yarn but I can never remember. Just eyeball how the two colours are already twisting and then twist them the other way.

Good luck. It really isn't that complicated (but NEVER try to do it when knitting in the round. That's complicated.)

You can make any stitch pattern into a swatch. It's fun anyway to see just how it'll look for real and how it feels, instead of just a picture. Any stitch dictionary worth the $$ will give you the repeat of the stitch: usually something like "repeat of 8 stitches + 3". All you have to do is cast on a multiple of the repeat + the extra pattern stitches for your swatch.

So, for example, if you were going to do a "repeat of 8 stitches + 3" pattern, you'd cast on 27 stitches to get a swatch with 3 repeats
= 8 x 8 x 8 + 3 = 27.

You can cast on extra stitches for the edges (like a garter stitch border on a scarf) if you want a "frame" around your swatch - like 3 on each size for a total of 6.

So (yes, sorry, math) you'd have a grand total of 33 stitches on your swatch:
3 stitches for the right border,
3 stitches for the left border,
8 x 8 x 8 + 3 = 27 for 3 repeats of the pattern

When you knitted your swatch of 33 stitches, you would first knit a couple of just-knitted rows for the bottom border, then:

knit 3 (right border),
follow beginning of pattern
do "repeat" part of pattern
follow end part of pattern
knit 3 (left border)

Same thing on the purl rows, the first and last knit3 are for the garter stitch border and the middle you just follow the pattern. You keep going on the swatch vertically until the pattern ends or you can repeat it again if that's not tall enough.

Barbara Walker published 4 (4!) pattern dictionaries, and they are great. I have the first one, "A Treasury of Knitting Patterns," and it's wonderful.

I love you Crazy Aunt Purl. Your blog is the best.

Ummmm I'd be estatic if someone would just show me how to START knitting :(

Haven't read this one, but have been eyeing it for a while. It claims that everything is knitted in small pieces and then worked together.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/193149911X/

I understand EXACTLY what you mean! The assumption is that we should all KNOW it by now, but some of us (me) don't already know it and would love for the book that we paid for to tell us! NOOOOOOOO, it remains a mystery. . . if the gnomes appear, will you please share? :)

Thanks!

love swatches, huh? Try modular knitting. Domino Knitting by Vivian Hoxbro is the modular knitting bible. Ginger Luters wrote Module Magic, Patricia Wener wrote Dazzling Knits. I did not like Iris Schriers' Modular Knits.

If you have a gazillion ends, and bits and pieces that are all the wrong tension because you keep on starting new yarn, I think that's kind of the definition of the EVIL INTARSIA!

Yes, I consider myself and advanced knitter. No, I don't shy away things because they're hard. Yes, I don't do things that are just plain a pain in the butt. I haven't done intarsia yet, and after watching a few people do intarsia, I don't want to. And the funny thing is Debbie Stoller says that she thinks it's easier than Fair Isle in her Stitch n Bitch book. riiiight.

Give me fair isle or give me.... cables. Intarsia can go pester someone else. (And yeah, I am amassing a small pile of intarsia patterns I want to knit. One day I'll find the patience for those damn bobbins.)

You're still the best knitter I know! (Mostly my friends crochet. Me? I tried knitting and got knots. My friends were all like, "Oh! Try crochet. It's great and so easy." Not so my fair friends, not so. I still had knots. That's why I cross-stitch. It's simpler that way.)

Pictures:
http://alison.knitsmiths.us/intarsia.html

Video:
http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/videos/adv-tech/intarsia-rds.mpg

Good for you for jumping right into it! knittinghelp.com is a great resource when you run into problems like that and the videos are great!

Ya’ll? I seriously wanted to knit. I was all, as soon as conference season is over and I can learn math and maybe to read* I can do the knitting and join this wonderful world of knitters because yoga is not for me and I like the aspect of wine and porn and sniffing. (That sounded wrong.) But now? With the hard intarsia? And I can’t even play piano ya’ll. This looks way too complicated. I’ll stick to VH1 and poorly written whodunit novels (now with more smut!).

*ABC After school special yanno.

I absolutely got intarsia OUT of my system when I made my mom a pullover from a 90s VK with shoes all over it (including the sleeves - sob!). But here's the joke (can you tell I was too young to know what I was doing?): COTTON INTARSIA! (Painful to type - painful to live through...) Not only do I have a bajillion *%$#%@$#!! colors hanging off the back of this thing, but they slip all over each other and nothing takes hold. Tahki Cotton Classic - love it, but in this instance it was like knitting with rayon, or petroleum jelly. I wish I'd known to combine knitting with wine in those days - the sweater still would have taken me forever, but I wouldn't have cared! God, that thing was horrific - and on the first run-through I got the gauge wrong and it was a big floppy mess. Have you ever frogged intarsia? Forget the wine, my preciouses, you're gonna need morphine.

Well, Hercules got the poopy stables cleaned up, and I finally finished the sweater from hell. Good thing mom loves it - she's going to be buried in it...

I think your hair looks fine and your smile is great!

I've been begging for answers to the same questions:
http://knitbrarian.typepad.com/knitbrarian/2005/09/happy_birthday_.html

intarsia? fair isle? who knows. how about "multi-colour knitting"? this works for me!

Hey you! Remember me? We met at the yard sale. I really enjoy doing intarsia on the right pattern. Let me know if you still need a tutorial and I could come on up to your neighborhood (or you could come down to mine) and I'll show you how it's done. I'm the sort of person who can't read directions. I need to be shown. (Peggy)

www.knittinghelp.com! It's totally the best!!

I still need someone to teach me how to pronounce "intarsia". BUT, I think you should go ahead and dive in. I was doing intarsia without realizing it (a more seasoned knitter schooled me), when I wanted to do a chemo cap. It was *really* easy (can't find the link right now), and it was knit IN THE ROUND.

The great thing about being a novice knitter? You don't know enough to be afraid of trying *anything*!!!!

You go, Purl.

BTW, when doing multi colors, I find putting each ball into a ziplock-type baggie helps keep the yarn from getting too tangled; zip it open when in use, zip closed when not. Bobbins just don't seem to hold enough yarn.

-D.

Oooh! Found it: http://www.charitablecrafters.org/StrongWomen.htm

Wicked kewl and wicked easy.

-D.

Sorry I can't help you with the intarsia, I'm not a big fan of all the weaving in of ends. Yuck. But for swatching patterns, have you seen Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book, it's a little pricey, but it is a fantastic encyclopedia of knitting, with good illustrations and instructions for just about everything. And there is a whole section of pattern ideas which you could test out as a swatch. Good luck!

You seemed to have done really well without SLOW directions. Way to wing it.
When I first was teaching myself to knit, that's all I did was swatches. Now I have a little bag with a bunch of little pieces. I thought someday I would put them together into something. But there they are still in the bag.
Hope you find the directions you want to work with. It looks great your way though.
:)

You've been tagged, sweetpea!

There's a book out there called "Learn to Crochet because it's so much faster than knitting". Well, I lied about the book; but it's true about the crochet. Love your knits, your cats and your blog.

http://www.sweaterscapes.com/intars.htm

I think I saw this one, but I found it to be incredibly useful! Good luck with the intarsia, I hope it doesn't becomes SARS! eeek!
Happy Yarning

I think that YOU should write a knitting book. It would be so cool, so funny, and full of great ideas. You could become the swatch queen! I would buy it just because!

the pronounciation sums up how I feel about it:
in tar, as "the wooly mammoths wandered into La Brea and now they are in tar", and then this exhalation at the end - juh. Like you are too tired to to say jug. I'd rather embroider.

hey don't sweat it. your swatch looks great. and don't let this experience keep you from doing it again. one day i'll post front and back pictures of my chicken pillows. and you'll see that if i strand if there aren't very many stitches of contrasting color needed. and i'll create a bobbin if the color space is wider. fair isle isn't the only technique that uses stranded knitting -- what constitutes fair isle is that you never use more than 2 colors in a row. intarsia can be stranded but you can go nuts with the number of colors.

be well grasshopper ... my work here is done ;)

Well, swatch rhymes with...watch, botch...um, like in "Watch Laurie botch the swatch."

Just kidding. You rock.

I also love 100 Afghan Squares to Knit by Debbie Abrahams for intarsia instructions and small pieces.

Have you seen the Nicki Epstein series, Knitting on the Edge and Knitting Over the Edge? They have loads of stitch techniques in swatch format.
Good luck!

are you talking about wanting to do everything in patchwork? aka modular knitting?

look at this skirt from vogue:
http://acunningplan.typepad.com/andsheknitstoo/2005/08/scarves_and_mod.html

Also:

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/dakn1.html

http://www.knittingbasket.com/patterns/patterns.html

http://www.velona.com/items/026/B02660.html

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/193149911X/103-5919544-2409450?v=glance

Long time lurker...

This is really in reply to the earlier blog re: drunk dialing. (I am SOO guilty of that. In fact, my hang over mornings go like this: Wake up. Hangover hits immediately. Wonder if I'll vomit in the bed. Roll over, check cell phone through bleary eyes, check the outgoing calls list. Puke. Feed cats, who probably missed dinner.)

Anyway, this bi-sexual crazy cat lady (and crazy rat lady) will bring her modest stash of overpriced funky fashion yarns, stockpile of reds from South America and Austrailia (mostly Shiraz'es and Syrah'es), and her tremendously overpacked Emergency kits for the pets and meet y'all on the West Coast. Oh yeah, and my three female cats (Weenie, Scuba, and Bubu) and my two female rats (Nosh and Nibble.) No uteruses in the cats, tho, we ripped those out.

Can I bring my fiance? He's almost a lesbian. No, really, for sure. I kid you not.

BIG hugs and kisses from NYC. Jo Ann

I have the obvious solution....

CRAZY AUNT PURL WRITES THE DIFINITIVE BOOK!!!

"Red or White: Knitting for Beginner's with wine."

I swear, if I ever go to SF you're meeting me for a command performance SNB and teaching me to knit. Hope that's ok with you since I've just decided all on my own. :)

swatch rhymes with bee-yotch, which is apparently what the author of that book is. That looks scary. You are a knitting stud.

You already know how to do intarsia, you just don't know it yet. You know how you catch your tails? It's the same thing when switching from one color to the next, only you do it for JUST THE ONE STITCH and the drop the tail. work across with your new color, pick up the next color needed (start a new ball) and do the same thing. Intarsia is easiest if you stay away from the bobbins or whole balls of yarn. Just let the yarn dangle on the wrong side of the work. Every once in a while, run your fingers through all the tails to untangle them; that's how Kaffe Fassett does it.

Now if that's not moving beyond "Remedial Knitting 101" I don't know what is. I am totally impressed, missy.

swatches = potholder! dishcloths! maybe you would like modular knitting?

Hi,

I'm too chicken for intarsia and fairisle. I've been knitting for about 2-3 yrs now avoiding colourwork the whole time. Debbie Bliss' How to Knit book seems to have a decent description of, well, most things knitting. You've inspired me to get off my arse and try colourwork too. One of these days.

Note the spelling of "colour" - yup, Canadian here. I just read Minou's entry about crazy cat ladies in Canada. Just to let you know, you're welcome on the east coast too. Just think, cheaper houses than BC! Clean air! Little to no chance of earthquakes! We survived our last hurricane (Juan) and insane snowstorm (white Juan)in stride since most major weather systems lose their oompf before they find us. We drink a lot here too, we're actually known across the country for it. There are beaches, real honest to god fishing villages to visit, & TWO lys's in Halifax area alone.

Just my pitch for our 'hood...

Intarsia is EVIL. I hate it. And yet, I buy patterns that require it.

I personally learned how to knit using Barbara Walker's Learn to Knit Afghan book. It has like 63 squares you knit, and in each square, you learn a different technique.

Except fair isle and intarsia. And the cover is all 70s and freaky. But its a great book.

I'm going to stay away from that book. Thanks for the warning.

Pats on the back to you for pretty much figuring it out on your own.. i.e., cutting the yarn, letting it hang, realising that all that stranding was less than ideal. WTGG!! (and I agree that Kaffee Fasset has the breeziest, least worrisome instructions.
I managed to figure out the Interweave knits tutorial on brioche stitch last night. We should go have a drink.

If you're coming to Canada, come to the part that doesn't freeze half the year. Housing is cheap out east for a reason. All the crazy cat ladies like it here. Even Soba would like it here.

swatch rhymes with bi-atch. your intarsia looks loverrly.

Ok, look..... I have yet to learn to knit, ok, but I am very desperately wanting to learn and keep buying knitting yarn and scary utensils at yard sales...it's my winter time holing-up project. But, ok, in the mean time, you are absolutely crazy, and I am absoultly in love. SO keep up being you and crazy, cuz you keep me in stiches, and I feel more ok about being crazy myself and I feel ya, girl! I'm just sayin. By the way. I was born in New O. and you know, feelin' the pain too and all, cuz yeah, like, family and friends, had to flee and lost homes and shit, and well, what can I say? Anyway, glad I found you! yyyaaaaay for me! I will let you know as soon as I finish my very first piece this fall, a scarf I think my auntie says is my first project! ok! yo.
PS I love your kitties, and I have 3 crazy cats too! They talk to me, tho I am the only one who can hear them...hhhhhmmmmm.

hey Laurie. Intarsia is fun. The first sweater I ever finished was intarsia. I have nothing (in the 8+ projects) on the needles with intarsia right now to demonstrate with, but I pulled a cardy out of my collection with both intarsia and fairisle in it and its on my blog today. You should get instructions fairly easily from the web. thanks for the inspiration ;)..

That book isn't the best I've ever bought. I made the mittens from it and had to rip back when it came to the thumbs because if you follow the book's instructions you end up with thumbs suitable for an orang utan. I think it's a case of the publisher rushing the book out to jump on the bandwagon

Intarsia (aka Colorblock) is worked with a SEPARATE strand for each block of color. If one block falls in between two other blocks (as with the diamond between the white spaces) the EACH block gets its own yarn. This is almost impossible to do in the round.

Note: Criss-cross the colors (do a little dosey-do with the yarn) when you change from one color to another to prevent holes between blocks of color.

I do not like bobbins, they make me nuts. I prefer really long strands and I do a lot of weaving end. It all depends on what makes you insane.

Fair Isle (aka Stranding) is where the colors are carried behind each other as you work, so you don't have to worry about a separate strand for each block of color, but you do have to carry the colors you're not currently using in the stitch behind the others. Usually Fair Isle involves only 2 or 3 colors in any given row. This is generally much easier to do in the round.

NOTE: Do NOT pull the yarn too tightly when making a stitch, you want your floats - strands - to be not too tight (or too loose) on the back of your work. If your floats are too tight there is no way to fix this but ripping it out.

intarsia was a mystery to me, too, until i started making an argyle vest and just winging it. and you know what- it works? i wish i could tell you how to do it in words, but trust me, you can do it! you gotta just twist the yarns together at the edges. argh - wish i had a web cam. good luck!

I hate intarsia. I heart cables.

I rented a DVD called "The Art of Knitting & Crochet 2" and they had a step-by-step demonstration. Check your local library to see if they have it in stock.

I too have the intarsia bug--however I didnt try to learn a technique--- I just started following a pattern I found on the net for this skull and X-bones. It seemed easy enough until I felted it and the skulls really shrunk! FYI! If felting the yarns underneath will felt really tightly! I am trying another one at present. Love this blog---great info! good luck all with intarsia!
check out the bag before:
http://www.webdesignbyanne.net/skullbag.jpeg.jpg
and after:
http://www.webdesignbyanne.net/skullbagfelted.jpeg.JPG

heres a great skull chart:
http://ginabeanaknits.blogspot.com/2004/08/skull-intarsia-chart.html

I also want to try needle felting!

I don't know much about knitting--I am just learning. I do mostly crochet sweaters with knitted ribbing--people ask me all the time if my sweaters are knitted and I smile proudly and say "no". My only real contribution to this site is that being middle aged and past the marriage and mommy stuff, I find knitting and crochet more interesting than the majority of men I run across. So, keep up the good work!