Tag Archives: I-cord

Pattern: Phoenix Pouch

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAA perfect pouch to put things in, decorated with Professor Dumbledore’s familiar, Fawkes the phoenix. This little drawstring pouch is of a size to house a deck of cards, a small camera, or a handful of Bernie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans. Originally designed for a Harry Potter-themed gift exchange, the Phoenix Pouch would be well received by Potterheads, or anyone else who loves a good fiery bird.

Knit from the top down, the construction of the Phoenix Pouch is very simple. A row of eyelets allow the addition of a drawstring. The suggested I-cord drawstring may be substituted for a ribbon, if you so choose. The Phoenix is created through Fair Isle knitting following the included chart.

Get the pattern here for free!

Phoenix Pouch

Yarn Spotlight: Rome

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I don’t usually wax poetic about a specific brand of yarn.  It makes me feel like a (unpaid) corporate shill.  But in this case, this yarn is so exceptional, so weird, and so awesome that I can’t help myself.

Mom bought me a handful of  skeins of HPKY’s Rome yarn for my birthday.  And when I opened the box, I immediately put down the project I was working on to start knitting with the Rome Yarn.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt’s incredibly fluffy and soft. Like kittens and clouds, and… I don’t know… ducklings.  It’s mostly baby alpaca and Merino, with a little bit of nylon.

At first glance, Rome looks like unspun pencil roving, but when you start working with it, you realize it’s incredibly strong and totally not split-y.  When you look closer, you see that it’s actually really cool space-aged yarn.  What they’ve done is take a super-fine nylon fiber and knit it into an I-cord.  Then, they filled the little knit tube with the alpaca and merino.  See? (It’s crazy hard to photograph, but this was the best I could do.  If you squint really hard, you can kind of see the I-cord stitching).

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERABecause the alpaca and merino fibers haven’t actually been spun together, your finished project ends up extra fluffy and cuddly.  I made the HPKY Bias Shawl with my Rome yarn, and it’s the warmest, most wonderful thing I’ve made in a long time.  The squishy-ness of garter stitch combined with the fluffiness of the yarn makes it unbelievably lovely.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIf you see a skein (or two) of HPKY’s Rome, grab it up.  Even if you don’t knit with it, you can keep it around to pet like a kitten.  I wouldn’t judge.

Spheroid and Oblong

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So, now you know about the Toy Society, eyeballs and I-cord.  What to do with your new knowledge?  How about making a cute, round(ish) little creature to brighten someone’s day?

I like making these little guys with sock yarn on tiny little needles.  That way they can ride around in a pocket or purse.  But, using bulky yarn and larger needles, you’ll end up with a bigger, more huggable critter.

Feel free to play around with the shape of your Spheroid, too.  Adding more even knit rows between the increase and decrease rows will make your guy more oblong.  Removing the knit rows will make him more UFO-shaped.

Remember, if you’re making this little guy for a kid under the age of 3 (or anyone who is dumb enough to eat buttons) forgo button or beaded eyes.  Safety eyes, while they’re safer than buttons, are still not 100% for little kids.

Materials:

A few yards of scrap sock yarn.  A ball about the size of a Ping-Pong ball should be plenty.

Size 2 double-pointed needles

Polyfill or wool roving for stuffing

Safety eyes, buttons, beads, or contrasting-color thread for the face

Scissors and a tapestry needle

Gauge:

7 sts/inch, but it really really doesn’t matter

Instructions:

Spheroid:OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Cast on 8 stitches, and join to work in the round

1. k

2. [k1, inc 1] around(16 stitches)

3. k

4. [k2, inc 1] around(24 stitches)

5 and 6.  k

7. [k3, inc 1] around(32 stitches)

8-10. k

11. [k4, inc 1] around(40 stitches)

12-15. k

16. [k3 k2tog] around(32 stitches)

17-19. k

20. [k2 k2tog] around (24 stitches)

21-22. k

23. [k1, k2tog] around(16 stitches)

24. k

25. [k2tog] around (8 stitches)

Cut a 1 foot long tail.   Using the tapestry needle, pull the tail through the loops.  If you’re using safety eyes, add them now.  Stuff the body, and close up the top.

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Complete rows 1-7 of Spheroid.

Knit 20 rows even.

Complete rows 20-25 of Spheroid.

Cut a 1 foot long tail.   Using the tapestry needle, pull the tail through the loops.  If you’re using safety eyes, add them now.  Stuff the body, and close up the top.

Limbs:

Using double-pointed needles, cast on 3 stitches, leaving a 1-foot tail.  Work as an I-cord for 8 rows.  Cut a 1 foot tail, and use your tapestry needle to pull the tail through the loops, and tie a knot so the leg doesn’t unravel.  Hide the end of the tail in the middle of the limb and trim.  Leave the cast-on tail to use to sew the limb to the body.

Repeat until you have enough limbs.  (Usually this is 4.  But, if you want to make an octopus, 8 would be more appropriate.  Or of you wanted to add antennae, you should make 6)

When you have enough limbs, carefully sew them onto the body, using the remaining cast-on tails.  Weave in the ends and trim.  Hide the ends in the body of your little guy.

If you haven’t already added a face, do so now.

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I-cord

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When I first learned about I-cord, I was told that the name was short for “Idiot-Cord.”   Supposedly it has this name because the first person who made I-cord did it on accident because she was an “idiot” who forgot to flip her knitting around when she started a new row.  I think this is kind of mean.   Especially since I-cord is super fun to make, useful, and more than a little ingenious.  Maybe we’ll pretend the “I” stands for ingenious.

So, what is I-cord?  It’s a very thin tube of knitting.  It can be used as a tie or drawstring, and back in ‘ye olden times’ was used to make shoelaces before they were commercially available.  I-cord is knit in the round, but on two needles, which makes it super easy to make.  If you can knit a garter stitch swatch, you can make an I-cord.

Here’s how you do it:

Using double-pointed needles, cast on 3-4 stitches (you could cast on more stitches if you want a thicker cord, but I-cords with more than 4 stitches end up a bit wonky looking).

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Usually at this point, you’d flip your knitting, so that the working yarn is on the right.  But, since we’re making an I-cord, we’ll do something a little different.  It’ll feel a little weird at first, but it’ll work, I promise.

Without flipping your knitting around, slide your stitches to the right hand end of the needle.  The working yarn should be coming off the left side of your knitting.  Take the needle with your stitches on it in your left hand, and your empty needle in your right hand.  Knit across.

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Do the same thing again.  Slide you knitting to the right end of the needle, and knit all stitches.  Repeat ad nauseum, making sure not to flip your knitting between rows.

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See how your knitting is turning into a little tube? That’s an I-cord!  Give the I-cord a little tug after every couple rows to settle the stitches into a nice even cord.

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Keep going until your I-cord is as long as you want it to be, and then finish by either binding off, or sewing your tail through your active loops (like you do at the top of a hat).

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Now, don’t you feel ingenious?

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