Colorwork - New Ways to Look at It

Previously I've discussed the basic colorwork technique of stripes. These are nice and easy. They can be any sized,  all the same or a specific pattern like Fibonacci, or completely random. Color blocking also falls in this level.  For beginners,  work each color section separately.  For more advanced people,  this is an Intarsia variation.

edit to add this important fact: Without having to purchase multitudes of colors, though who wouldn't, you can have a multiple color project by using variegated yarn, ombre yarn, tonal yarn.  These yarn are multi color either in a 1 color family or a many color family.  But this choice can add interest and variety.  The choices in this range are short color repeats to long color repeats.  This could be as short as an inch or many yards before subtle shifting into the next. 

Then I discussed the next level of colorwork techniques,  Fair Isle,  intarsia, mosaic, and In the case of crochet,  tapestry.  Intarsia can be styled like a coloring book for children with large sections.   Intarsia can be styled as a single Fair Isle pattern.  Fair isle is best done in only 2 colors per round or row.  Mosaic uses 1 color per 2 passes but can have 2 or more colors (usually 2).  Tapestry is essentially a variant of Fair Isle.

Now let's talk about the 3rd level of colorwork techniques.  Filet crochet is black and white.  Best part, the background can be any color you want as can the solid parts.  Entrelac in either crochet or knit can be a fantastic way to take a small stitch pattern or colorwork pattern and make it a much larger.  Each block in the chart equals one square of the entrelac but the entrelac square can be any size.  Finally there is the box stitch or c2c stitch pattern and mitered squares.  As with the entrelac each pattern block is equal to a blocked of c2c or mitered square.  

Let's see what you can do with a level 2 or 3 and the charts.