Old Friend

We used to have a great yarn shop down at the old strip shopping center, but it closed its doors some years ago. At the ending sale, I got a Magicord at half price, because it is a mini-knitting machine. I played with it a time or two, and one of the things I did with it was to make the hood cord for a sweatshirt sweater for my dad. Today I am making a few household items, and realized I need a new laundry bag for small items. I have extra fabric, but I needed a cord for the top. Amazingly enough, I knew right where the old notion was, so I hauled it out and attempted to remember how to work it. After a failure or two, I was forced to read the instructions, and ten minutes later I had a few yards of I-cord. Once you get it started, all you have to do is turn the crank.

The cord I knit above is sport weight, and it works fine in the Magicord, but baby yarn is even easier to knit. Here is a pair of booties I made of flannel for my first daughter, so these booties are a good 25 years old. I made this I-cord on the knitting machine before I had the Magicord, and it makes a nice soft tie. The cord ties are just sewn to the side, not in a casing.

You can also make I-cord on a regular knitting machine, and one thing I have always wanted to try is to knit endless cord with all my scraps and make a rug out of it by braiding the cords.