Roosimine is an Estonian inlay technique that creates the appearance of embroidery through intentional floats in contrasting yarn on the right side of your knitting.

It’s the perfect technique to add some embellishment to your knitting that is easier than intarsia. The name Roosimine translates to “decorating with roses”, which comes from a style of short stitch embroidery done on the Estonian island of Muhu.

This is a workshop at PortFiber in Portland, Maine, USA.

• SKILL LEVEL

  Intermediate - Students should be comfortable knitting in the round and reading from charts

• MATERIALS

  • US 6/ 4mm needles for knitting small circumference (Double pointed needles or circular needles for magic loop)

  • Stitch markers

  • Tapestry / darning needle

  • DK-weight yarn (preferably nothing slippery—think yarn you would use for colorwork/Fair Isle knitting) in the following approx. amounts. Make sure all yarn is easy to pull from both ends of the ball (for working with two strands at a time)

    • MC (main colour) 20g

    • CC1 (contrast colour 1) 10g

    • CC2 (contrast colour 2) 10g