Sunday, July 09, 2006

Noni Noni Nooooni

Coming up on the finish line is the Noni Majolica Bag. For some reason I feel the need to alter every single pattern in some way, so I chose to go solid instead of stripes and with Cascade Eco+ single-stranded rather than the 220 double-stranded.

I did a test felt early on to make sure the Eco would be thick enough.

Is it me, or does that look a little...phallic?

Ahem, well, the Eco felted up just beautifully so I forged ahead. When I finished the bag, I really wasn't seeing it. Really. Did not see it at all. It looked like a big shapeless nothing. But with the comforting words of my enabler, I kept a tiny flicker of hope that post-felt, it would begin to appear as it should.

Faced with the wretched, dreaded i-cord, I searched the knitty coffeeshop desperately for a solution and joy of joys, found it! And I am happy to share it with all who feel as I do about i-cord.

White Trash Spool Knitter
Taking the instructions from this knitty thread (login before you click through), I fashioned together this white trash spool knitter that worked like a dream.

Materials:
Toilet paper roll
Duct tape
Nails

Instructions:
Cut a toilet paper roll up the side (if I have to tell you an empty toilet paper roll, I can't help you). Roll it into itself about twice and duct tape together with gusto. Scotch tape the same number of nails that your i-cord stitches call for to the top of the roll (the heads of the nails should stick up about 1/2 inch). Duct tape the nails a few times over to make sure they don't move.

Takes about five minutes to fashion it up and then you're off an running. I knitted about 150 rows of i-cord in no time, with no wonky loose ends, no struggling with the stitches, no cursing and throwing things across the room. It was a little hard on the hands, but that is a small price to pay for making i-cord fast and simple. (Hint: If you need instructions on how to use a spool knitter, these are pretty good.)

Here it is, in all it's white trash glory




Ah, nice, even stitches and not a wonk in sight


I literally jumped up and down when I first saw the i-cord coming out the end. *sigh* Sometimes, it's the little things in life that bring the most joy. Especially when you're a geek like me.

1 Comments:

Blogger Glenna C said...

Just popping by from an old Knittyboard link and I wanted to say what a FABULOUS idea this is for i-cord. I am totally bookmarking this post for later reference in my 'technique' file ;)

2:44 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home