Chalk Stripes and Intarsia Snaggles

I haven't made much progress on my Chalk Stripes scarf, but last night was a Bunko night (no, I didn't win), so at least I was having fun, even if it wasn't knitting. 

I thought I would share the technique I am using to keep the yarns from tangling. I learned this years and years ago at a TKGA convention. I don't do a lot of intarsia, but this really does work to keep your yarn straight.  This time, I took an old shoe box, cut slits for each color into the top of the box. On the inside, I made separate holes for each color (I used an old soda carton for this). I fed each color through its hole and started knitting.

Here's key #1: keep the yarn still. Once you have set your yarn in position, leave it there! 

Here's key #2: at the end of every RS row, turn the needle clockwise to begin the next row; at the end of every WS row, turn the needle counter-clockwise to begin the next row. The yarn untangles itself after every WS row. 

I have seen people use this technique with plastic butter dishes that are glued down to a piece of cardboard, old metal coffee cans, and 2-liter soda bottles. You could improvise with a lot of different things, depending on the size of your skeins and what you have lying around.

One last thing, if you are giving any thought to making this scarf, check out this cool site where you can test out your colors for the scarf. 

Have fun knitting!