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!