Well, I thought about my next poncho some more, and I decided: I want to trim it with idiot cord (aka I-cord). I think that would give the poncho a nice clean edge and also eliminate curling.
Now, a normal person would have just knit the poncho, and sewn the idiot cord onto the edge and posted a picture of the poncho by now. Not me! For some mysterious reason, I want to describe the most efficient way to attach the I-cord at the web site. And I want to test whether or not the idea will work before I knit the whole poncho.
Ok, never mind that I could make the poncho, knit on 3 trims and tear them off in the time I’m spending being “efficient”.
Still, since I spent time fiddling, I’m going to show you the I-Cord “experiments”. The goal of the experiments was to learn:
- Will I cord eliminate the curling on the edges and sides of stockinette? (The answer: yes.)
- Can I figure out the least aggravating way to apply it? (Well, I know what I find least aggravating. I have no idea wat you’ll find least aggravating. )
The first experiment is shown in hot pink stash yarn; you saw the picture at the top of this article. I knit some I cord, hung the I-cord on the machine and then knit across it. What an easy cast on! What’s even better is that after I steamed the swatch, the I cord, does, indeed eliminate curling. Notice how the bottom of the swatch doesn’t curl, but the top curls wildly, as stockinette does?
I then tried “seam as you go”, hanging the I -Cord on edge needles every two rows and knitting. That looks pretty good too. And it prevents curling. Success!
Well, sort of. I wrote my poncho calculator, charted a pattern, and started knitting. Once again, I discovered: I HATE seam as you go! (You’d think I’d have learned when I tried to knit the purse using this method. Not me!) Look to the right. You’ll see proof that I hate seem as you go. I knit 4″ worth of “poncho” I knit before I gave up. I just couldn’t imagine the horror of knitting another 60″ worth of poncho doing this.
Luckily, knitting the 4″ wasn’t a total waste. I learned a few things. First, I do like casting on over the I cord. So, the final pattern will use this technique. You just hang on row or I-cord per needle. That works just fine. Second, I’ll just sew the I-cord along the edges when I’m done. I tried sewing a bit on, and it was pretty easy to do. Third, I experimented and learned I can thread a tapestry needle with yarn and sort of “stuff” the I-cord, making it more three dimensional. I also learned should knit the I cord at one tension setting tighter than the main yarn to tighten it up a bit.
Finally, this poncho is going to look great. And I will finish it tomorrow!
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I just knit icord on a vest I did recently and found it was extremely efficient and went very quickly and eliminated the need to sew it on. gg
Comment by gg (1 comments.) — 10/20/2004 @ 8:39 am
Did you hand knit, or machine knit?
I’d definitely just knit the I-cord on to the sides during HK! What I’ve done so far on the poncho:
Coded the poncho generator– (I’m adding a yarn estimator right now.)
Knit the two rectangles, casting on over the I cord. (That works great
)
I hung the second rectangle on the first over I cord on the machine and seamed on the machine. (works great!)
The back neck I cord will end up seamed on the machine when I make the neck. But… I’m going to have to sew some I cord. (Unless some clever person can suggest how to attach I cord as I go on the machine– with out doing the normal seam as you go on the machine method.
I’ve discovered I hate hanging the seamed edge every two rows when I could just move the carraige back and forth madly. that. Although, I know that other people absolutely love Thelma Viers knit top down sweaters, which use the techniques, and and nearly all sewn when you take them off the machine. So, other people could seam as you go on the machine. Just not me!
Comment by lucia — 10/20/2004 @ 10:18 am
What exactly are you calling I-Cord? You said you “stuffed” the I-Cord. I guess if I knew what I-Cord was I’d know how you stuffed it but I’m having trouble visualizing what I-Cord is. I’m wondering if it’s similar to the “knitted bias tape” I made when I was making Stretch and Sew Polar Fleece vests, I used Bramwell 4-Ply, knitted about 11 sts at tension 4 (which is fairly tight for 4 ply) and sewed it on. It worked even nicer than bias tape because it went smoothly over curves. Is that the same as your I-Cord?
Roz
Comment by Roz Porter (0 comments.) — 10/21/2004 @ 5:11 am
Idiot cord is just knit by raising between 3 and 6 needles, setting the carriage to knit in 1 direction only, and then knitting… endlessly! You see it form a tube as you knit it, but it forms a tighter tube when you take it off the machine and pull.
Elizabeth Zimmerman named it this.
Anyway, I found I can thread a tapestry needle with yarn and pull the yarn through. That sort of “fill” the tube– like filled spaghetti straps on a dress. But, in the picture, I just steamed the I cord flat. (I think the I-cord in the picture is 6 stitches on the needle.)
I ended up putting hanging the knitting on the I cord (really easy) but attaching the sides mostly on my machine. (Not to hard– just like sewing a sweater on the machine.)
It helps the rolling a lot, and looks pretty clean.
Comment by lucia — 10/21/2004 @ 7:35 am