Friday, March 02, 2007

You learn something new every day.....

I've been knitting ever since I can remember but am always amazed to learn something new that is actually old. I ran across something the other day called a built-in i-cord.


I have seen, but never tried the i-cord cast on, i-cord bid off and applied icord. I have knit yards of icord for purse handles and drawsrings and even icord ribbon necklaces. But I've never seen or used this technique before.

The built-in i-cord is attributed to Elizabeth Zimmermann which is why I say it is something old. I think that one of the things I love about knitting is that there is always something new to learn. I'm thinking I may never make a plain garter stitch scarf again. The picture above is the beginnings of the scarf made from a varigated worsted Mainsatay yarn I got at WalMart for $4 for 16 ounces. I like the way it is turning out.

I can see lots of possibilities for this. The front edges of a garter stitch baby sweater for one. Panels knit with this edge would be really easy to sew up into an afghan. I want to experiment with this edging and an i-cord cast on and bindoff too. It is amazing how one small "new to me" technique can get you thinking. I want to experiment with this edging and different stitches for the middle section.

Since I googled and found this in other places on the web, I don't think EZ will mind me sharing her stitch.

Cast on desired number of stitches. Knit across to last 3 stitches. Bring yarn to the front and slip last 3 stitches as if to purl. Repeat on every row. It takes a bit (a couple inches) before the i-cord looks just how it should but it is a beautiful finished edge.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mari,
I've done the attached I-cord, but maybe it was *cheating* because I took a class from Meg, EZ's daughter at a Madison Knit-in, where she was teaching. We made an I-cord potholder in the class.
I've done some interesting variations, and will show you the scarves that I still have.

Cathy said...

I love the attached I-chord, If you look at the pictures of my Red Wings BSJ it adds such a nice finished touch to them. My posting here: http://wishingiwasknitting.blogspot.com/2007_03_07_archive.html shows a close up of how it looks.

Oh, and to answer your question on my blog (thanks for stopping by! I appreciate it a lot!), my lake is Lake St. Helen, in Michigan.