Intarsia Knitting
Sun, 09 Mar
|Hotel Realm
Learn Simple Intarsia from a diagram for vertical colour stripes.
Time & Location
09 Mar 2025, 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm AEDT
Hotel Realm, 18 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600, Australia
About the event
Join Jane and cast on in colour with Simple Intarsia from a diagram for vertical colour stripes. This keeps things simple as you learn to manage yarns and avoid tangles, the essential foundation for tackling not-so-simple (or what Jane calls Stunning) intarsia. Jane loves working in colour - from simple vertical stripes worked following a diagram to interpreting charts in colours on your needles. The first Simple Intarsia swatch is worked in vertical stripes from a diagram.
Learn the foundation skills for Intarsia, from joining colours and securing ends to managing yarns and avoiding tangles. The second swatch starts with casting on in sections of three colours, then ribbing in the three blocks of colour; this shows how vertical stripes can start from the hemline (cast-on edge) of a garment.
The class includes two knitted samples, supported by sample garments and Jane’s knowledge of garment styling and fit.
This workshop is for knitters who are confident in stocking stitch and are ready to learn new skills in colourwork.
What you will learn
Foundations of intarsia knitting
How to manage yarns and avoid tangles in colourwork
How to join colours in colourwork
How to secure ends
Materials and tools
8ply yarn in 3 contrasting, solid colours (50g each)
Needles to match the yarn (It is often easier to learn to manage colour on straight needles before working on circular needles)
Cable needle
Scissors
Notebook
Pen or pencil
Tapestry needle for 8ply
Pre-requisite skills
Confidence in stocking stitch
What's included
3 hours of expert instruction from internationally renowned workshop facilitator Jane Slicer-Smith of Signatur Handknits in a class of a maximum of ten participants
Afternoon tea including a light snack and tea and coffee
VIP 2-day pass to the Australian Yarn Show from March 8th to 9th at Hotel Realm including:
Australian Yarn Show 2025 Show bag
One coffee voucher per day (Saturday and Sunday) for barista coffee cart
One digital access pass to all the talks on the main stage
Please note that the digital access pass will not be activated until a couple of weeks after the conclusion of the Show.
About the facilitator
Whilst still a student studying Fashion & Textiles in the UK, Jane’s early love of hand-knitting saw her working in London with Debbie Bliss and Patricia Roberts. In the early eighties, while living in Sydney and designing handknit patterns for a Japanese yarn company, Jane started Signatur Handknits at Paddington Markets, Sydney.
Signatur Handknits finished garments soon evolved into Signatur Knitting Kits since markets and shows allowed knitters to try a design before even casting on. This interaction with knitters allowed Jane to tweak patterns and personalise the design so each knitter achieved a perfect fit.
Personalising designs for kits and finished garments completely changed her approach to designing and writing patterns and taught her that the key elements of fit and ease are what create your style.
For 15 years, Jane enjoyed winters in each hemisphere between Australia, the US and England, teaching at retreats, on cruises, with guilds and at hand-knitting events. She had a fabulous time designing for yarn companies and knitting magazines, amongst them Vogue Knitting International and Knitters. It was the publishers of Knitters, XRX, who produced her first book of designs: Swing, Swagger, Drape – Knit the Colors of Australia.
Over the last three years, she has been teaching mainly American knitters on ZOOM with XRX/Stitches at Home. Her technique classes include Intarsia, Mitres, Textures and button-making.