GREEN

Green symbolizes: life, nature, fertility, well beingGreen is the color of nature, fertility, life. Grass green is the most restful color. Green symbolizes self-respect and well being. Green is the color of balance. It also means learning, growth and harmony. Green is a safe color, if you don't know what color to use anywhere use green.

Green is favored by well balanced people. Green symbolizes the master healer and the life force. It often symbolizes money. It was believed green was healing for the eyes. Egyptians wore green eyeliner. Green eyeshades are still used. You should eat raw green foods for good health. Friday is the day of green. Green jade is a sacred stone of Asia.

Green Energy

Green contains the powerful energies of nature, growth, and desire to expand or increase. Balance and a sense of order are found in the color green. Change and transformation is necessary for growth, and so this ability to sustain changes is also a part of the energy of green.

Put some green in your life when you want:
~a new state of balance
~feel a need for change or growth
~freedom to pursue new ideas
~protection from fears and anxieties connected with the demands of others

INTARSIA

Color knitting always seems more complicated than knitting in one color. But, as with many things, it's all a matter of practice. Working with several balls of yarn is bound to be more awkward than working with one, but it needn't be difficult. I always promise myself that I will learn something new with each project. The knitting technique that I’m learning now is intarsia.

Along with learning a new knitted technique, I also like to know a bit about the meaning of the technique. The word "intarsia" (in-tar-zha) comes from the Italian intarsio, or inlaying (usually wood). In knitting, the term refers to the integration of isolated blocks of color into a project.

Intarsia is knitting using a separate piece of yarn for each of the areas of color, linking them together as you work across the row. It frequently leads to a large number of pieces of yarn dangling from your work; I found this to be somewhat intimidating at first.

Charts are very commonly used with intarsia knitting, and it is very important to keep track of where you are. The Party Parka’s chart is very easy to read because the blocks of color are counted by rows and the color changes are charted in blocks of color (very intarsia 101).

When I linked the sections of color together, I worked along the row as usual until I come to the place where the next color change was to begin. With the OLD color yarn on the wrong side of the work (where it would naturally tend to be unless doing something fancy), I placed the OLD color of yarn over the top of the NEW color, before I pick up and started working with the new color. I also held the new color taunt before I knitted or purled it to make a tight join without holes. There is definitely an art to get good tension in intarsia knitting.