Pretty darn cool to see THIS!!

Whether it be the boldness and beauty of this design, the fabulous fingering yarn creating such a light loft to the garment (held double throughout), the gorgeous muted shades of color, the British flag representing the myriad of English influences in my life, or whether I am simply a nut case taking on this fairly large project, I am not sure but when “London came a-calling”, I was only more than happy to respond. Aside from some lapses of concentration which forced me to reknit large sections of this knit (ugh), this project and its directions were pretty direct. I am absolutely in love with this and purposely wanted the photos to be by that beautiful pussy willow whilst in full bloom as my goal was to have this completed by Spring. Thank you, Brandon, for playing with unusual shaping making this not only practical but immensely fashionable. Oh, and I did add one snap at the top for comfort sake (originally a hook and eye but the snap is more secure).

I also want to give credit to Yarns Unlimited, www.GotYarn.com, Two Swans Yarns, and McAree Brothers as well as the shop listed above for the beautiful, beautiful yarn that is, unfortunately, now discontinued. If you scrounge around the world as I did for this yarn, keep in mind that the yarn is held double and the fact that there are multiple colors, dye lot becomes more insignificant, almost moot.

On the topic of yarn/fabric created ~ if and when substituting, I highly recommend fingering as it is that weight that can be held double (to get gauge) that gives you the incredibly beautiful shade and texture that you see here. Not to mention, the flow of the fabric is very important in this highly boxy shape. The flow allows the yardage of fabric to be carried so beautifully.

Bobbin intarsia ~ Union Jack was knitted in intarsia technique using bobbins. The sections are fairly large, therefore need long lengths of yarn wrapped in a bobbin. Care was given to twist yarns on the wrong side to prevent holes. Never were strands carried across the back of the work.

String intarsia ~ String intarsia are lengths of yarn that dangle freely and can be easily accessed for each color you are working. This is the wisest method to use when you are knitting very small sections of color. No bobbins are used at all. Of course, you still need to twist yarns on the wrong side to prevent holes but after a row is knitted, you simply shake the needle and the yarn falls freely for the next row and the detangling is completed! See Dragon Chic for an example of this. You can see how many and how small the different colored sections are.

Combination intarsia ~ My Mosiac dress is being done in a combination of string and bobbin intarsia technique. I am using small bobbins for the blocks of color while I am using string intarsia technique for the 1 stitch of brown that is in between the color blocks. Letting these brown strings hang amidst the large no. of bobbins eases the amount of twisting and detangling one needs to do at the end of the row.

Whatever your preference, intarsia technique looks as neat and beautiful on the inside as on the outside when completed correctly.