two color knitting, which to use?

[Kilgore_Trout]

I want to knit socks and knit in text at the top of the sock, like many socks that you can buy have. I've watched the intarsia and fair-isle videos, but I'm not sure which is best to use. I'm worried that the loops on the backside won't be sturdy enough for socks with the feet going in and out (especially the toes!), but I'm not sure how intarsia would work if I was knitting in letters....Amy mentions mosaic knitting in the video as the easiest way to knit with two colors.....what is that?

[Ingrid]

Mosaic knitting is a type of double knitting, I believe. Don't know much about it. The recent issue of Creative Knitting has an article about it and I get the impression that it is double thick.

If you're knitting letters and don't want loops, I'd go with intarsia, with one strand for each letter.

Stranded won't work as well in the round, because your yarn ends up in the wrong place. It can work in certain circumstances when both colors are throughout the design, but if you were to have a stretch for several stitches, as in, say, and E or L, you'd end up with a difficulty.

I'd go with intarsia.

[Kilgore_Trout]

Thanks ingrid!! I was trying to visualize it in my head, and I realized that on letters like E and L I can just weave the strand back through the stitches to put it in its proper place for the next row....it seems to work out in my head...what do you think?

[Ingrid]

I'd never thought of that. :thinking: It would work to get the yarn back in it's proper place, though you would have a double thickness. And with stranding you still have those, well, strands across the back between the letters. That's why I think intarsia is best for letters. Much less 'mess' on the inside. With a sweater, it doesn't really matter to me, but with socks you have toes going in there, and I suspect stranding will affect the elasticity of the sock top.