I-cord Bind Off

I just discovered this. And now I want to put it on everything!

Those of you who have knit one of these may recognize it, as may others who have not knit one of these if I tell you I was a bit puzzled by a suggestion from the wonderful and terse Elizabeth Zimmerman. If you DO recognize it, please don’t say anything. It is still a secret. (I love fun secrets!)

The suggestion was to use an applied i-cord for a lovely finish at the edges. I thought, “Mmmm! Lovely! How in the world does one do that exactly, Queen Elizabeth?” (I think everybody ought to have a Queen Elizabeth, don’t you? Great Britain can share the name.)

So I went to what is becoming a treasured resource, The Knitter’s Book of finishing Techniques, by Nancie M. Wiseman, and learned.

Before you begin binding off, use a cable cast on to cast on 3 stitches. (Nancie gave instructions for a 2-stitch bind i-cord bind off, too, but I liked the look of 3, and I had plenty of yarn to try it.)

This photo is from somewhere in the middle of the binding off, but it gives the basic idea: you’re working with 3 i-cord stitches, and one live stitch to bind off.

Move all the stitches to the left needle, and knit the first two stitches. Then do a slip, slip, knit (ssk) with the last i-cord stitch and the live stitch to be bound off.

Move all the stitches back to the left needle, and start the process over again. Easy as that!

I wanted to continue the i-cord finish over a section of the work that was already bound, so I’m just picking up a stitch each time through the repeat, and that seems to be working out just fine.