How to knit the I-Cord cast-on

If you like to knit shawl from top down, you will always learn new ways to cast on. In this case, the i-cord edge runs uniformly from one to the other end. I’ll show you how the master this technique.

I prefer to knit shawls from top down. For this, I cast on a few stitches and gradually increase the stitches, so that the rows become longer and longer. That’s how I can adjust the size of the shawl. In order for the edge of the shawl to look the same from one corner to the next, there are various ways to knit the selvedge stitch. A nice selvedge stitch gives the I-cord. In doing so, the selvedge is knitted as a I-cord at the beginning and end of each row. The I-cord is knitted as a tube and creates a smooth right knitted edge, which is twice as thick as with flat knitted selvedge stitches.

How to knit the I-Cord CO

The I-cord cast-on is composed of three steps:

  1. Cast-on
  2. I-cord
  3. Picking up stitches

But the most important thing in advance is how you should hold the yarn to cast on.

The I-cord edge is generally knitted over 3 or 4 stitches. In my example, I knitted 3 stitches as an I-cord.

 

 

How to hold the yarn

I-Cord CO tutorial donnarossa knit how to hold the yarn step 1

Step 1: Hold the yarn in the hands as shown: the end of the yarn is placed in front of your left thumb, guide the yarn around your left index finger and place it in the palm of the hand.

 

I-Cord CO tutorial donnarossa knit how to hold the yarn step 2

Step 2: Keep your thumb and index finger open, close the remaining fingers, and hold the yarn tight.

 

1. Cast-on

With this cast-on, I don’t recommend starting with a loop knot. Instead, loop the yarn around the needle as shown in steps 1 and 2.

I-Cord CO tutorial donnarossa CO step 1

Step 1: Place the needle with the right hand from above into the space between the thumb, index finger and thread.

I-Cord CO tutorial donnarossa CO step 2

Step 2: Move the needle under the thread to the thumb forwards and upwards.

I-Cord CO tutorial donnarossa long-tail CO

Step 3: Cast on the next stitch as in the long-tail cast-on method. Repeat this step to the desired number of stitches. In this example, a total of three stitches has cast on.

 

2. I-Cord

I-Cord CO donnarossa tutorial Kordel slip stitches

Step 1: If you knit with DPNs, move the stitches to the other end of the needle. When you knit with circular knitting needles, slip purlwise the stitches from the right to the left needle, with the yarn in the back.

 

I-Cord CO donnarossa tutorial Kordel knit stitches

Step 2: Knit all stitches.

I-Cord CO donnarossa tutorial Kordel i-cord

Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you have two rows more than you want to pick up at the side. In my example, I will take three stitches from the side of the I-cord. So I knit a total of 5 rows.

 

3. Picking up stitches

Picking up sideways

I-Cord CO tutorial donnarossa seitliche aufnahmen drehen

Step 1: Turn the work by 90° clockwise.

I-Cord CO tutorial donnarossa seitliche aufnahmen schritt 2

Step 2: Pick up a stitch at the “V”; starting in two rows below the last, knitted row.

I-Cord CO tutorial donnarossa seitliche aufnahmen schritt 3

Repeat step 2 to the desired number of sideways picked stitches. In this example, there are 3 stitches.

 

Picking up along the cast-on

Now follows the frigid part. But don’t worry – if it isn’t so nice, you can still make corrections with the stitching of the yarn end.

I-Cord CO tutorial donnarossa pick up step 1

Step 1: With the right needle, insert into one loop of the cast-on and pick up a stitch.

I-Cord CO tutorial donnarossa pick up step 2x

Step 2:  Pick up another stitch along the cast-on.

I-Cord CO tutorial donnarossa pick up step 3

Step 3: Pick up the third and last stitch along the cast-on.

Knit the next three (or how many stitches you picked up sideways) accordingly to the pattern instructions, until the last three stitches.

 

I-Cord edge

At the beginning of each row, knit the three stitches.

I-Cord CO tutorial donnarossa slip wyif

At the end of each row, slip the last three stitches as follows: with the yarn in front of the needle, slip the next three stitches purlwise.

I-Cord CO tutorial donnarossa RS WS

Pattern ideas to try your new skills

2 Responses

  1. Corinne
    | Reply

    Very detailed instruction that will help a lot.

    I think I tried to knit the cast on stitches that I picked up and then there were no stitches anymore in that direction (and also I did it continuing in the same direction as the stitches I had picked up sideways). Now that I see how it’s done it totally makes sense and it looks very doable.

    • donnarossa
      | Reply

      Great, if it makes sense and I can help :-)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.