DIY Intarsia Knit “No Signal” Sweater

Prolific machine knitter Donatella of inspiration & realisation remembers “being almost hypnotized by the ‘no signal’ TV screen” way back when, and now she’s found a way to share that experience by making this utterly mesmerizing machine knit intarsia sweater!

She generated her own pattern based on the “no signal” screen using Microsoft Excel, and knitted the pattern on her Brother knitting machine with merino wool yarn.

Intarsia knitting can be very tricky, even with a machine, as you can see from the picture that Donatella shared of the inside of the fabric when she was weaving in the ends. Despite all of her pattern designing and machine knitting, she still had to go back and do some details by hand using various embroidery stitches. It might just be the combination of hand and machine processes that went into the design and production of this sweater that makes it look so fantastic while capturing the feel of a by-gone era in pop culture. Kinda makes me wish we got a flashy picture like this when there’s no internet connection!