I-cord for Pelica vest

Hi - I’m knew(ish) to knitting. Thought the Pelica vest by Rosa Pomar wld be easy but I’m totally flummoxed by neck I-cord leading into shoulder. Pattern has a diagram showing right side of work (when cord is worked on the wrong side) and I’ve no idea how to rotate I-cord clockwise. Spent last 5 hours trying various things. Not even sure what I’m trying to achieve. V frustrated newby knitter. Any help most welcome. :cherry_blossom:

Welcome to the Forum!

Can you quote the exact wording for that section of the pattern? A photo is allowed, as long as it doesn’t give the entire pattern due to designer copyright. A picture of your own work showing where you’re stuck could be helpful as well.

Hello. Thanks. It’s under ‘Right Front: Start working applied I-cord’. Repeat row until 3 st on right and left needles. All fine up to this point. Then states ‘Drop 3 st from left needle … and pick up in reverse order making sure the I-cord rotates clockwise’. I’m using circular needle so not sure how this is meant to work - my needle wld be facing back in on itself/towards me ??? So confused.

Hello
I’m not going to try to help with the icord because I’m not familiar with this instruction of dropping 3 stitches off (I’ve done several icord bind offs but not like this), but I wanted to ask if the pattern has specifically told you to work the icord on the wrong side of the work?
Icord (as far as I know) is usually worked on the right side of the work, although perhaps not always. If you are beginning on the right front of the cardigan I can’t imagine how it’s worked on the wrong side.
The right font of the cardigan is right as you would wear it. If you are to begin at the centre front of the right side of the cardigan this will be with right side facing.

Can you check on this?
You are working the right front, as you would wear it?

There will be help for the icord. Maybe it’s the type that uses a cable needle or spare dpn.

Thank you for these directions.
Starting at the 5th photo down, erstearns has posted photos of this maneuver. See if they help.
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/erstearns/pelica

Many thanks. This is v useful as I can now see what goal is. I’ve decided to ignore this step as the left side does not have this same instruction therefore I hope it won’t make too much difference. Instead I’ll make me last ssk lean to the left by twisting stitch. Fingers crossed it turns out ok. :hugs:

Thanks for tip re which is right side. I wasn’t :100: about that. instructions defo state to work I-cord wrong side. It’s a popular pattern so I was surprised to find no queries or demos of it online. Will persevere.

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Hope it goes well but if you have a question, come back and ask. It’s a very good looking vest and will be fun to wear, I’m sure.

Thank you. People’s responses have been incredibly helpful. Will be sure to use this amazing site again. :cherry_blossom:

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Do come again. We love to see and hear about progress. I only stopped by to ask one question, about 4 years ago… and never left! I have learned so much, and still so much to learn. It’s a lovely forum to be part of.

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Agreed! I drop in every day just to read and learn, and sometimes help out. Knitting is a complex subject, and there are always new tricks to pick up.

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Everyone’s so lovely here! Nicest place on the internet. I asked a question a year ago and now I’m on here all the time seeing what people are getting up to and getting the best advice! Hope to see you back soon!

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I think it would be helpful to use a cable needle. Slip the 3 stitches purlwise onto the cable needle, and then rotate it clockwise. Either slip the stitches back into the left needle or work them off the cable needle. It’ll feel more secure than just dropping them. It’s a pretty cool pattern! I fancy it myself!

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Thanks for tip re extra needle. Now it’s just the ‘rotate clockwise’ that mystifies. :). I’ve moved on by doing some kind of twisty thing that now just looks like a minor error at the neck. Im willing to look past it as part of the charm of home made. But know it’s something that will niggle away at me. If the test works out well I may revisit if I knit in another colour. :cherry_blossom:

I am not clear where this twisted part is. Is it centre back of the neck? Is it a decorative design feature done once or a repeated maneuver throughout the icord edge?

It’s a shame you’re not happy with it.

When I was thinking about these directions, I wondered if it was better to follow the movement of the stitches and ignore the “…making sure the I-cord rotates clockwise.” part. I’ll have to try it on the needles to see just where it’s going.

The last photo from that same project knitter isn’t clear enough for me to see the finished result
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/erstearns/pelica
but what would happen if you ignored the directions and continued the applied i-cord without the maneuver? What is the purpose of shifting the 3sts?

Aha moment! I bought the pattern (I get FOMO looking at other peoples projects!) .
The manoeuvre only applies to the junction between the neck and the shoulder. You work the i- cord normally but from the WS along the back of the neck from the provisional cast on. When you have only three stitches left on the left needle, you change the order of these so that stitch 1 on the needle becomes stitch 3 etc. The rotation bit refers to how you move them. Think of working a cable pattern - the stitches will either cross in front of or behind each other. In this case , stitch 3 on the left needle (furthest away from the tip) becomes stitch 1 by passing behind stitches 1 and 2. And the same for the next two stitches. This moves them clockwise (as opposed to counterclockwise if you reordered the stitches by moving them in front ). The photo in the pattern shows a little arrow to tell you to reorder by moving them behind each other.
You then carry on the icord on these three stitches.
You’ll have three stitches now on the right needle. The next instruction is to pick up stitches from the shoulder icord that you’ve already worked.
Incidentally, I frequently knit icords from the wrong side. I think I read somewhere a long time ago that you get less curl, and it looks pretty good!
I hope this helps :grinning:

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Ah, that makes sense of the cross at the join. Thank you for going to the extent of buying the pattern! I know just what you mean about FOMO. It happens to me so often with patterns posted here. I look forward to seeing your version of this vest too.

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:rofl: It will probably be added to my thousands of patterns and Kms of yarn that my kids will have to dispose of at some point!!

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I don’t have a stash of yarn but I make up for it with looseleaf notebooks chock full of patterns. Every now and then I add 10 patterns and weed out one “what was I thinking” pattern. It’s not helping diminish the backlog!

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