In the last post you guys asked for pictures to go with my i-cord instructions, so here they are! The instructions I used were here; I made some clarifications and now I have photos. Liz and I had a mini knitting bee, and at one point we ran out and got these shots before it got dark. Thank you Liz! Here goes!

I-Cord Cast-On (with pictures!)

You start off with a provisional cast-on of three stitches. I used a bunch of waste yarn which I had to scrounge for. So if you have to scrounge, go ahead, I’ll wait.

Knit two rows of i-cord: knit 3 stitches, slip your stitches back to left needle (purl-wise, so make the needle points touch and just shove three from the right needle to the left) and repeat. These rows will give you a bit of length to bend around the right corner of your knitting. The provisional stitches will bend up to make your side border when you get past the cast-on itself and start knitting back and forth.

Here’s what it looks like after I’ve knit the provisional cast-on and two rows of i-cord:

Just to illustrate how to slip, here are two action shots. (I’m focusing on this because I was dumb and did it a different way at first so I don’t want you to make the same mistake.)

Now we get to the fun part! You’ll still be knitting i-cord, but with a twist. Shove those three stitches on the left needle like you’d normally do, but instead of knitting 3 stitches you’ll be increasing by one in the first stitch. Knit in the front and back of the first stitch (kfb), knit 2.

Here’s the kfb:

Knitted to the end of the row:

The stitch on the very right is your first cast-on stitch. (Yeah, I know, this is going to take a while.) The three stitches have been slipped back on the left needle again to continue for the next stitch.

Another kfb, making two cast-on stitches (on the right) and three i-cord stitches (one on the right needle and two on the left):

And once again knitted to the end of the row.

Keep slipping the left-most three stitches back onto the left needle and repeating those three stitches: kfb, k2. Once you finish casting on, you should have the number of required stitches plus three that will become the left side of your i-cord edging. You should get something that looks like this!

Knit two more rows of i-cord and slide it onto the right needle. Turn, and start whichever edging you like. In the following picture I just slipped the first stitch and purled to the end of the row, turning it around for you folks to see it from the front. You can use Annie Modesitt’s slip-stitch double-knit edging which looks fabulous as well.

(For AM’s edging: On the WS, slip 1 with yarn in front (s1yf), k1, s1yf. On the RS, k1, s1yf, k1. You can play around with the order that you put the stitches on the needle, because in my opinion it looks best if you put the stitch that looks like a purl in the middle. The bar disappears into the middle of the i-cord that way.)

Here’s a view from the other side. Once you get to the end, you can undo the provisional cast-on and slip those stitches onto the left needle.

Purl those last three stitches (or continue with Annie Modesitt’s edging) and you’ve completed your cast-on and knit the first row! Here’s what it looks like after I did another two rows in stockinette:

If you have any questions, leave a comment and I’ll try my best to answer it!

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