Right now all I have is a plan and an intarsia chart. UPDATE: I now have actual yarn and an intarsia chart. I tried using a couple of the online intarsia generators and didn’t really like the results, so I made my own chart.

DIY intarsia kit: picture to knit, Excel, gauge swatch. Optional, but useful, extra: artistic talent, in case the picture you want to knit doesn’t already exist. Since I don’t have it, I went with photo-editing software.

1. Calculate total stitches/rows from gauge swatch.
2. Set up a grid in Excel with appropriate number of columns and rows.
3. Place picture over grid, set to 20-30% transparency so you can see the grid behind the picture.
4. Color in the grid squares to match the picture.
5. Tweak as needed until the blocky picture in Excel resembles the picture in your head/on your actual picture/etc.

It took about an hour for me to do a 44x50 grid, hampered by the fact that once the picture was in place I couldn’t use the mouse to select cells so I had to use the arrows to move around. BUT I like the result so much better, and I was able to keep tweaking the design as little things started to bug me.

I’m going to do worsted edging to match the other Pratchgan squares, but worsted is too blocky for the square I want to do so the inside will be sock. I got (will be getting) (have now gotten) most of the yarn from my sister’s stash, so all I have to buy (have now bought) is the black for the hood and the worsted-weight for the edging.

Yay!!! The rat is done, and actually looks like what it’s supposed to look like. I had a bit of trouble with the edging (I doubted my math and added and extra stitch on either side, it came out too wide and I had to rip back. Never doubt the math.), but it shouldn’t take too long to fix. Then all I have to do is weave in the 3 million ends left from all the color work.

Final update. It took me two days, on a weekend when I could sleep in and otherwise slack, to do the actual knitting. It took me three days, when I was riding the bus 1-1/2 hours each way to work with nothing to do but knit and read, to weave in the ends. I suck at finishing. But finish I did, and the rat is now being blocked. Final knitted measurement pre-blocking was exactly 6x6. I’m blocking it to 6x6 and he’s looking a little puffy in the middle, but not too bad.