frayed at the edge

A little tutorial

When Rachel mentioned in a recent post about the trials of crocheting straps for a super bag she had made, I said in my comment that perhaps next time she could use an I-cord instead.  Back came a request to explain what an i-cord is!  By chance I had just started a little knitting project which would use i-cords, using this gorgeous Noro yarn, which I found in my stash

 

I cast on 30 stitches, and knitted 30 rows (I was making it up as I went along!!)

 

then I knitted the stitches on to the circular needle, and picked up 30 stitches on each of the other edges

 

after knitting until I was getting near the end of the second ball, I knitted two together across all the stitches, then knitted a few rounds of rib, creating a little bag

 

now for the I-cord.  You need two double-pointed needles.  I cast on 7 stitches

 

I knitted the first row as usual, but instead of turning  to knit the second row, I pushed the stitches back to the end of the needle, and brought the yarn from the left to the start of the row, pulling it as tight as possible

 

here is a close-up!  And that is all you do, just keep pushing the stitches back to the end of the needle and bringing the yarn across from the left

 

after a few rows, you can see that a cord is formed.  You need to pull a bit on the cord to close the slight gap where you have taken the yarn back to the start of each row

 

you can use any yarn to knit I-cord - the thinner one was knitted with some leftover sock wool

 

so here is the bag and two lengths of i-cord for handles

 

but what has happened to the bag?  Well. I washed it and the handles with a load of towels, then put them in the tumble drier, also with the towels, to felt them.  I pinned  one handle on, and popped a large ball of yarn in 

 

then pinned the other handle on.  I will probably attach them with buttons

 

and now a final snow report.  On Saturday morning, we walked up to the main road through the village.  I managed to wrest my Helly Hansen jacket away from Malcolm, having let him wear it when he was out shovelling snow - I have had this jacket for years and years, it maybe only gets worn once or twice each winter.  As you can see, we have had rather a lot of snow

 

with the roads barely passable

 

then yesterday morning a very nice man appeared with a large machine and cleared our road

 

this morning the thaw was well underway and we were able to go out in the car for the first time since last Monday.  So after doing the usual Monday food shop, we went for a cuppa ...... and shared a slice of delicious chocolate cake!

Snowed in!

We got up on Tuesday morning to a world that had turned white

 

with more snow than we have seen for some time,  going out in the car was ruled out

 

after lunch we went out for a walk

 

enjoying the scenery

 

and pausing to take an arty photo ....

 

....... or two

 

we headed down the hill out of the village

 

until we reached our destination.  So what was so special about this stretch of hedge?

 

because on the other side of the hedge there are alpacas!

 

who were watching us watching them

 

on Wednesday morning we got up to a lot more snow

 

 

our next door neighbour had groceries delivered ....... but the van got stuck!  After all efforts to dig the van out had failed, Malcolm applied a bit of sideways thinking to the problem.  This is him, wearing my "foul weather" jacket, heading out with a watering can full of hot water.   He melted an area around the wheels, allowing the driver to get traction to drive off, an hour after he arrived!  You can always rely on an engineer to find a solution to a problem Sorry for the poor photo - I took it from the attic - not only did the window have snow on it, but you might have noticed a bird had splattered it as well!)

 

later in the day, the sky cleared and the moon appeared

 

we had even more snow yesterday morning, so I decided to be brave and go out to take photos, but I don't have long boots.  It's not just engineers who can find solution - I simply wrapped my legs in clingfilm ......

 

...... then wrapped more round the top of my boots

 

it worked - my legs stayed dry as I waded the snow

 

I stuck my yardstick in the deep drift in front of the hedge

 

a mere 18 inches!

 

I won't be sitting here any time soon

 

we brought these birds home from Indonesia - I am sure they wish they were back there in the sun!

 

it may look lovely, but I wish it would go away

 

back indoors, I took a photo of an icicle hanging in front of the lounge window

 

later in the day, it had grown quite a bit

 

then early this morning, it had grown and twisted - it was easily 24 inches long

 

and was sprouting sidekicks

 

it had been shaped by the wind

 

which was strong enough to blow the bird seed out of the ground feeder

 

 

and blow over the heavy wooden plinth the bird bath sits on.  Fortunately the bird bath didn't break

 

we may have been stuck in the house since Tuesday, but don't worry, we didn't have to do without  scones.  Fortunately there were two emergency ones in the freezer ....... I enjoyed a mug of hot chocolate with mine

 

As I write this, I am watching the local news bulletin, with film of the main A1 closed for 30 miles between Alnwick and Berwick.  Hundreds of people were stranded in their cars overnight!  So I think we will be staying home for the weekend!  Whatever your weather, have a good weekend, love Anne