Jack Skellington Face Intarsia Square

LK150 mid-gauge · 5" × 5" (12.5 × 12.5 cm) · beginner

A small stockinette panel with a black-and-white intarsia skeleton face (elongated white skull, black eye sockets and nostrils on a black ground). Knit the head and background as intarsia; add the stitched grin with duplicate stitch after the square is off the machine. Designed for personal, non-commercial use as an original geometric knitting interpretation — not licensed merchandise.

Size

One size: 5" × 5" (12.5 × 12.5 cm) blocked, unstretched stockinette.

No shaping. 25 stitches remain in work for every row.

Materials

• Yarn: Worsted / CYC 4, two colors
  • MC (Black): 40 yd / 37 m
  • CC (White): 40 yd / 37 m
  • Smooth acrylic or wool-blend recommended (e.g. a standard #4 worsted in solid black and white)
• Waste yarn: 8–10 yd / 7–9 m, smooth, contrasting color, similar thickness
• Ravel cord: 1 length longer than the needle bed section in use
• Machine: LK150 (6.5 mm mid-gauge). Also works on other mid-gauge machines at the same stitch gauge. No ribber. No punchcard. No electronics.
• Tools: Cast-on comb and weights (or 2–3 claw weights), latch tool, 1- or 2-prong transfer tool (optional), tapestry needle, scissors, 3–5 small yarn butterflies or bobbins, blocking pins, steam iron or steamer
• Notions: Row counter (built-in LK150 counter)

Tension / Gauge

Always swatch. LK150 tension varies with yarn and clamp.

• Main tension: T7
• Waste tension: T8–T9
• Gauge in stockinette at T7, blocked:
  • 20 sts and 28 rows = 4" (10 cm)
  • 5 sts = 1" (2.5 cm); 7 rows = 1" (2.5 cm) ✓

Square math (do not change these if you want the attached chart to fill 5"):

• Width: 5 sts × 5" = 25 sts ✓
• Length: 7 rows × 5" = 35 rows ✓

If your swatch is not 20 sts × 28 rows = 4", change tension (T6 tighter / T8 looser) and re-swatch until you match. Do not add or remove chart stitches to “fix” size — the attached chart is 25 × 35.

Abbreviations and machine terms

• MC / CC — Main color (black) / Contrast color (white)
• CO / BO — Cast on / Bind off
• COR / COL — Carriage on right / Carriage on left
• RC — Row counter
• T — Tension dial
• ndl(s) / st(s) — Needle(s) / Stitch(es)
• WP (B) — Working position (B)
• NWP (A) — Non-working / out of work (A)
• HP — Holding position (not used in this pattern)
• E-wrap — E-wrap cast-on
• Lay-in — Manual intarsia: yarns laid in open hooks, not in the feeder
• RTL / LTR — Right to left / Left to right

LK150 needle positions used here: A = out of work; B = working. All pattern needles stay in B.

Pattern notes

• This is every-needle stockinette (no slip, tuck, or fair isle levers).
• The LK150 has no intarsia carriage. Work intarsia by the manual lay-in method described below. Yarn stays out of the feeder for all chart rows.
• Twist (wrap) MC and CC at every color join on every row or a hole will form.
• Wind two MC butterflies (left background and right background) and one CC butterfly (skull). Add extra MC butterflies only if you intarsia the eye sockets instead of duplicate-stitching them.
• Leave 6" (15 cm) tails at every new yarn start and end.
• Move claw weights up every 8–10 rows. A 25-stitch piece is light; even hang is essential or edges will drop.
• The stitched grin is not worked as one-stitch intarsia columns (too fiddly at this gauge for a beginner). Duplicate-stitch it after blocking.
• Read the Attached Stitch Chart before you cast on. The chart is the full square: 25 sts × 35 rows, no extra border stitches.

Attached Stitch Chart

Use the separate attached chart panel for the visual grid. Do not knit from memory or from a sketched substitute.

Where it sits: The chart is the companion panel to this pattern. Keep it beside the machine for RC 001–035. It is not repeated as a grid in this text.

How to read it (LK150 stockinette, two-color intarsia):

• Each cell = 1 stitch / 1 needle. Chart width = 25 cells = ndls L12–R13. Chart height = 35 rows = RC 001–035.
• Row 1 is at the bottom. Work upward.
• Odd rows (RC 001, 003, … 035): COR → COL. Read the chart row right to left.
• Even rows (RC 002, 004, … 034): COL → COR. Read the chart row left to right.
• Color key: filled/dark = MC Black; open/light = CC White.
• Carriage knits every needle in B. There is no end-needle selection and no punchcard.

Color / yarn management and stitch-count integration:

• Every chart row uses all 25 stitches. Side stitches are not added outside the chart. (25 chart sts = 25 ndls in B ✓)
• Typical layout (confirm on your attached chart): MC at both edges (background), CC in the center (skull), with two MC blocks for eye sockets and two small MC nostril stitches on the white face.
• At each MC/CC boundary, cross the old yarn over the new yarn before laying the next section so the join locks.
• Do not strand unused yarn across the back (that is fair isle). Park each butterfly and pick it up only in its section.
• After RC 035, the grin (stitched smile line) is added with duplicate stitch in MC following the grin marks on the attached chart — not during lay-in.

Machine setup

1. Clamp the LK150 to a sturdy table. Install the row counter. Ribber is not used.
2. Set tension dial to T7 for the gauge swatch and the square; use T8–T9 for waste yarn only.
3. Carriage: standard knit. Both direction / Russel-style levers in the normal knit position. No slip, no tuck, no part. Yarn feeder empty once intarsia begins.
4. Needle arrangement: bring ndls L12 through R13 (25 ndls) to B. All other needles remain in A. (L12–L1 = 12 ndls; R1–R13 = 13 ndls; 12 + 13 = 25 ✓)
5. Have MC, CC, waste yarn, ravel cord, comb, weights, and butterflies ready.

Practice (strongly recommended): On 12 needles, lay in two colors for 6 rows, twisting at the join. Confirm you can knit without dropped latches before starting the face.

Intarsia method (use for every chart row)

1. End the previous row with all 25 latches closed or ready. Carriage is at the side indicated by COR/COL.
2. Open the latches of ndls L12–R13.
3. Following that chart row and the reading direction above, lay MC in the hooks of every MC stitch and CC in the hooks of every CC stitch. Do not put yarn in the feeder.
4. At each color change, twist the two yarns once (old yarn over new) so the fabrics join.
5. Check: one strand in each hook, no skipped needle, no extra wrap on edge needles.
6. Move the carriage across. It will knit the laid-in yarns. Advance RC by 1.
7. Repeat. Do not pull butterflies tight; do not leave long slack loops.

If a stitch does not knit, open that latch, re-lay the yarn, and knit it back with the latch tool before the next row.

Step-by-step instructions

1. Waste-yarn cast-on

Tension: T8–T9. Yarn in feeder: waste yarn.

• With ndls L12–R13 in B (or E for wrapping), e-wrap those 25 needles with waste yarn.
• Hang the cast-on comb and weights.
• COR. Knit 8 rows waste yarn (end COR).
• Thread ravel cord in the feeder. Knit 1 row (to COL).
• Knit 1 more waste row if needed so the carriage ends COR.
• Break waste yarn. Remove it from the feeder.
• Reset RC to 000. COR. Tension to T7.

2. Join working colors

• Cut waste from the feeder. Feeder stays empty.
• Open latches L12–R13.
• Lay chart row 1 yarns into the hooks (read RTL, COR → COL). Edge stitches are usually MC.
• Twist at joins. Leave 6" tails hanging between the beds / down the front, not over needles you still need to knit.

3. Knit the chart — RC 001–035

Tension: T7. Feeder: empty. Ndls L12–R13 in B throughout. No needles to HP or A.

Checkpoints

• RC 010 COL or COR as charted: Count 25 stitches. Compare the white skull width to the chart. If the skull has drifted a needle, fix on the next row — do not continue a shifted face.
• RC 018–024 (eye-socket rows on a typical 35-row face): Extra care with small MC blocks inside CC. Use short butterflies; twist both sides of each eye.
• RC 035 COL: 35 rows × 7 rows/in = 5.0" of knitting length before bind-off ✓. Stitch count still 25 ✓.

Do not bind off until the chart is complete. Do not knit extra plain rows; they would un-square the 5" measurement.

4. Bind off

COL at RC 035. T7.

• Break MC and CC leaving 12" (30 cm) tails.
• Using the latch tool, bind off from left to right (L12 toward R13) at a tension matching T7 — not tight, not loose.
• Alternative: transfer all 25 stitches to a hand needle and bind off by hand in knitwise bind-off.
• Remove comb and weights. Pull the ravel cord to drop the waste yarn. The lower edge is a clean open or finished edge ready to weave.

Finishing

1. Weave in all intarsia tails on the reverse with a tapestry needle, following the same color. Do not pull so hard that joins pucker.
2. Duplicate stitch (MC Black) the grin and any single-stitch details marked on the attached chart (mouth stitches, optional brow marks). Each duplicate stitch covers one knit V on the right side. Work with the square lying flat, not stretched.
3. Optional: duplicate-stitch the eye sockets and nostrils if you knit them as solid white and prefer to add them now instead of as intarsia blocks.
4. Block: Pin right-side up to a 5" × 5" (12.5 × 12.5 cm) square. Steam lightly (hover the iron; do not crush acrylic stitches). Let dry fully.
5. Trim remaining tails. Do not cut duplicate-stitch ends until after steaming.

The panel is a patch, bag motif, pillow center, or blocked swatch. To sew it on, use mattress stitch or a machine zigzag around the very edge after blocking.

Beginner troubleshooting

• Holes at color changes: You skipped the twist. On the next row, wrap extra firmly; after bind-off, close remaining holes with the yarn tail.
• Tight joins / pulled skull: Butterflies are snagged or yanked. Ease the stitch with a transfer tool.
• Dropped edge stitch: Hang a claw weight on that edge every few rows; knit the edge stitch by hand if the carriage skips it.
• Face looks short and wide: Row gauge is too open. Next time use T6, but do not restretch this square past 5" or the motif will distort.
• Grin looks sparse: Add a second pass of duplicate stitch for the “x” stitches, still in MC.

End of pattern.