How to Make and Use I-Cord

I’ve probably mentioned that I’m teaching some fiber arts classes for kids this summer, and one of the projects we are going to tackle is making spool knitters and making knit cord.

Of course you can do the same thing with knitting needles, and it’s called I-cord (check this tutorial from Nemcsok Farms for the details if you don’t know how) and you can do the same sorts of things with your finished cords regardless of how you made them.

But what exactly can you do with knit cord?

Knitting-and has a list of 101 uses for knit cord (that actually only has 35 items), from holding two mittens together to making a coiled basket from a really long piece.

The cool thing about it is that you can make it different shapes to form words and images that can be applied to knitting or, if you string a wire through the cord, can stay in shape on their own.

You can braid lengths of it together to make a bracelet or a headband, which is probably one I will do with the kids. Or you can make one long piece and make a wrap bracelet.

Need more ideas? I found two great Pinterest boards on the subject of using I-cord: I-cord Ideas and Knitted I-cord Uses (love the Celtic knot keychain linked there!).

Do you have fun uses for knit cords? I’d love to hear them!

Looking for more Knitted Headband Patterns? Check these patterns out on Etsy. Headbands are a great gift idea as they knit up fast and are well received by friends and family. Everyone loves wearing Knit headbands right?

Sometimes when I’m scrolling through Ravelry a pattern will catch my eye as much because of the name as the look of the design (which is a little hard to see in those little thumbnails sometimes, anyway).

So it was with the Stellify shawl by Paola Albergamo. Stellify means to turn into a star, and the name and the story behind the shawl come from the story of Ariadne. The better known part of her story is that she helped Theseus escape from the Minotaur, but he then abandoned her. What comes after in many stories is that Dionysus found her, fell in love with her and later married her.

When he threw her jeweled crown into the sky, the Corona Borealis constellation was formed.

What does all this have to do with shawl knitting?

The shawl itself looks like it has a scattering of stars on it, as if it, too, has been stellified. The shawl begins with an I-cord tap and is shaped into a triangular shawl with both lateral and central increases. I-cord edging is incorporated into the sides, and the colorwork is done with mosaic knitting, which means this shawl is easier than it looks.

Mosaic knitting has you working with just one color per row, slipping stitches that appear in the other color to make the colorwork visible. Even better for people new to this kind of colorwork, the pattern includes written and charted instructions throughout so it should be easy to follow along.

The pattern comes in two sizes (the larger one is shown here) and calls for two colors of fingering weight yarn. It looks great in black and yellow, but don’t miss the other projects on Ravelry to see other fun and beautiful color options.

You can find the pattern in English and Italian on Ravelry.

[Photo: Paola Albergamo]

Have you read?