I-Cord Necklace Tutorial

At the Etsy Craft Party I attended on Friday I got a chance to play with an I-cord machine and talk to people about the different ways to make a cord (the machine, spool knitting or double pointed needles).  I wore the bracelet I created for the rest of the night and put it with my daily jewelry (watch, college ring and small silver hoop earrings) when I went to bed.  The next morning I decided that just wearing this bracelet wasn’t going to be enough, I needed to make more I-cord!

Since Saturday was Knit In Public Day it seemed fitting to choose the double pointed needle method.  If it hadn’t rained I would have biked to the park and knit there, but it was an icky day out and I’d been at the Etsy Party for 4 hours the night before, so the most public I was getting was twitter (and this blog, a few days late!).

I’m not sure that I’ve knit anything since Christmas of 2009, and even then it was just a few tiny snow people.  I was pleasantly surprised that my hands just knew how to hold everything, although it took a long time to get into the rhythm of things since the rows are so short!  Still, by the end I was able to do 7 inches of cord in about 10 minutes, which I thought was pretty good for someone who hasn’t knit anything substantial in more than 10 years.

My go-to website for basic technique has long been Lion Brand’s, they didn’t fail me this time either, giving a simple explanation of how to make an I-cord.

I started as instructed: casting on 3 stitches (yet another thing my hands magically remembered how to do), sliding, knitting, sliding and knitting some more.  Before I’d even gotten this technique down, I already knew that I wanted to experiment with the size of the cord, expanding and contracting to make different embellishments.  I ended up doing something like this:

Cast on 3
Slide to other end, knit 3 (basic cord pattern)
Repeat for 7 inches

Knit, cast on, knit, cast on, knit
Knit 1 row
Knit 2, cast on, knit 2, cast on, knit
Knit 3 rows
Knit 1, k2tog, knit 1, k2tog, knit 1
Knit 1 row
Knit 1, k2tog twice

Knit basic cord pattern for 1.5 inches

Knit, cast on, knit, cast on, knit
Knit, *cast on, knit* repeat from * 3 times
Knit 1 row
Knit 1, k2tog across
Knit 1, k2tog across

Knit basic cord pattern for 1.5 inches

Knit, cast on, knit, cast on, knit
Knit 1 row
Knit 2, cast on, knit 2, cast on, knit
Knit 3 rows
Knit 1, k2tog, knit 1, k2tog, knit 1
Knit 1 row
Knit 1, k2tog twice

Knit basic cord pattern for 7 inches

I apologize for the lack of abbreviations or standard notation.  (Did I mention how long it’s been since I knit something?)  I should probably say that you continue to slide at the end of each row.  If you can understand my pattern, you will end up with a necklace with three bobbles, 2 large and a small one between them.

The problem is, they change size depending on how you push and pull the cord.  I was looking around my apartment for something small, a marble would be ideal, to stick in the spaces.  The best I could come up with without leaving home (still raining) was some styrofoam.  I’d recently purchased an exacto knife so this seemed like a fun experiment.

I cut the styrofoam into a rectangular prism at first, but quickly realized the cord wasn’t tight enough and the corners would stick out.  So I sculpted a bit until I had a piece I liked.

 

 

Then I pulled at the yarn around a small hole until it was big enough to fit the foam.  Once it was in, I wiggled it around and stretched at the cord until the hole had nearly disappeared.

I repeated the same process for the other two bobble spaces.  Squishing the styrofoam helped a bit, and I was even able to cut out protruding corners while the foam was inside the cord.

  Overall I’m happy with the design, although I may end up looking at the thrift shop for some marbles or other small spheres to use instead.  The styrofoam is just a bit more visible than I’d like it to be.

5 Things Friday

  It’s late, but it’s still Friday.  Today was the Etsy Craft Party, I hope you celebrated!  (A list of all the registered parties is on meetup.)  We didn’t plan our party very well (lots of miscommunication) but we still had fun.  I made an icord bracelet using an Embellish-Knit Machine and finished lots of keychains between visitors.

I found myself describing most of my projects in terms of the yarns (the use and texture are self-explanatory when you can pick them up) and remembered how excited I am about the different ones I’ve found!

So, today’s five things are my favorite yarns:

1.)  Banana Fiber is the most unique yarn I have, so I start with that one, plus the coasters I made are really funky and fun:

2.)  Color grown yarns are exciting on several levels.  First, no dye!  Second, the colors get stronger rather than fading over time.  How cool is that?  Third, Pakucho is organic cotton.

3.)  Hemp is great for lots of reasons, but the reason I really love it is because it’s so sturdy.  This basket stands up without any support or felting required.

4.) The bamboo/wool blend from Stitch Nation is really soft, plus all the colors in this brand are really bright and fun!

5.) Reclaimed yarn is a fun option since the yarn has already lived one life, in this case the yarn is made from scraps leftover from factories.

What’s your favorite type of yarn?  Can you pick just one, or five?