Hello All! I just learned how to knit I-cord on 3 stitches. Does anyone know if you can knit it bigger, with like say 5 stitches?
Thanks!
YUP you sure can - make i-cord bigger with more stitches or double strand your yarn.
Sure, you could use 7 sts too.
Nona Knits just did a tutorial for knitting fingers (for gloves) out of 11 stitch i -cord…
it doesn’t work (11 stitch i-cord…) you get a big ladder… but fingers of gloves work best with multiples of 4… (and um, 11 isn’t one!)
so after you make the icord finger, you take a crochet hook, and ‘hook up’ stitch 12… (from the i-cord ladder!) the ladder goes away, and you have perfect i cord fingers! with 12 stitches!
So yes, you can make a 5 stitch (and possible even a 6 or 7 stitch icord… and if you work it right, even and 11 (that becomes 12!) stitch icord!
you can also do a double icord…
cast on 7, (or 9)
R1 and all rows: K4,(5) slip 3, turn work
this creates 2 icord either side of a garter stitch (or set of 3 garter stitches)
great for purse handles.
When it gets too big to i-cord, you can always double knit. I LOVED that technique when it showed up on Knitty Gritty–had heard about it, but didn’t get the idea until she showed it. For those who can get the idea from words:
Using scrap yarn and, preferably, the provisional cast on, cast on however many stitches you want. It can be enough for a whole sweater sleeve, for that matter, if you get stuck without a short circular or DPNs.
Knit 1, slip 1 with yarn IN FRONT (this is VERY important!) knit 1, slip 1, etc. to the end of the row.
Turn work. Knit the stitches you slipped and slip the ones you knitted–WITH YARN IN FRONT. You end up with a tube. If you don’t want the bottom closed, pick out the cast-on row and finish as you wish.
It’s possible to use a regular cast-on, putting half the stitches on one needle and half on another, and pick them up alternately to start so you don’t have the cast-on row to pick out. It’s enough to drive you bananas, but I’ve done it when there was ribbing on the bottom of a sleeve, etc. Works great for mittens, especially when you’re doing the thumb.
yup becky, [B]simple double knitting [/B]is one way to knit a tube… (bigger than i cord, but still small…
[I][B]but there is more to double knitting[/B][/I]… I LOVE double knitting, and do 2 yarn(2 color) interlocking --not a tube anymore but a 2 sided mesh–in jacquard patterns… (ie, fair isle)
i blogged about it in April/May, (you can check out blog archives) and posted some directions to different jacquard patterns…
i mostly make potholders, (i made 18 in month, + some washclothes, + 2 bathmats!)
there are lots of styles of double knitting… If you like simple, try complex
no slipped stitches, (you knit stitch 1 with yarn A, and then PURL stitch 2 with yarn B) it feels more like 1 X1 ribbing (with some differences.)
like simple double knitting (that doesn’t sound, when you read the directions, special) complex, 2 yarn/2 color double knitting 'feels like" ribbing (and directions read like ribbing) but…;
a small change… (you carry both yarns together, and just ‘work’ with 1 at a time) and the result isn’t ribbing, but double sided, 2 color designs in stockkng knit!
it’s sort of magical… and once you learn to do it, you can make double thick hats, or mittens, (reversible hats and mittens!) or reversible blankets, or well there is a world of possiblities!