Letters
Picket Fence: 6 Edging Tips
Dear Kay,
I’m suffering from pre-nostalgia on this Picket Fence Afghan. I miss this blanket even as I’m still working on it. It has been such a balm to have something with a beginning, middle, and end to work on.
The end is near!
The edging I’m using here is the venerable attached i-cord.
If you want to get really jacked up about attached i-cord, Kay’s post from 2016 will leave you with an overwhelming desire to edge something now.
Tip No. 1: Use a table. A blanket is a large piece of knitting. Putting it on a table takes a load off. It’s easier to access the edge of the blanket, easier to work the edging, and prevents the weight of the blanket from dragging down your edging as you work. And it’s a huge help when finishing a blanket in June. Obviously.
Tip No. 2: Fire up an incredible thing to listen to. Not to watch, but to listen to. I finished listening to the audiobook of The Bluest Eye, the harrowing first novel by Toni Morrison. Working on this blanket with Toni Morrison sitting across the table from me is an experience I will never forget.
Tip No. 3: Aim. Before you start cranking attached i-cord, study the blanket edge you’re going to be working with. Figure out where you want the needle to go. Between the garter ridges? Inside the first leg of stockinette? Whatever you decide, be sure to do the same thing every stitch, because variations will be visible once you’ve finished your i-cord edging.
Tip No. 4: Don’t be in a rush. Eighteen feet of i-cord may seem like a lot, but once you get your groove on, it clicks by. Especially if you’re listening to something amazing.
Tip No. 5: Consider changing colors. This blanket has a lot of high contrast, so I changed colors at certain points.
There’s no law against changing colors all day long, when it comes to attached i-cord. It’s a design choice.
Here’s where my blanket stands. You can see at the top right a stretch of black. I thought that was going to be so great. But it’s not!
I’m going to replace it with cream, at which point I’ll have one final task:
Tip No. 6: Hide your ends in the i-cord. This is one of my favorite tricks. All the ends that land at the edge of the blanket are going to be threaded with a tapestry needle inside the tube of i-cord along the edge. No weaving!
Will be cranking the AC any day now so I can pretend it’s February when a person needs a woolly, sheepy blanket.
Love,
Ann
PS Here are my earlier posts about this Picket Fence Afghan:
I’m maybe a week out from applied i-cord on my Picket Fences. Looking forward to it!!!!
Really A LABOR of love!
I only MAKE garments !
I like the dark brown on the top right. I think it balances the dark brown on the lower left side! I’m in the “1 square down, 19 to go” stage! Love it!
I like it too!
I am getting ready to add an applied i-cord edge to my Savage Heart Cardigan. This post and the reference back to Kay’s post has given me the confidence to try it.
Applied i cord is The Bomb!
That is one gorgeous blanket! To go with other gorgeous blankets I remember you sharing.
What a stunner of a blanket, and all undyed wool. Swoon! I was reminded of my Sheep Heid tam with all those subtle colors of undyed wool.
Truly an homage to sheep and their humans. I will make someday!
Lovely!
This has come together SO beautifully Ann! Totally inspired over here; thank you for the seaming and edging tips. I must cast on a block or two today.
I think the dark ivory st the top looks perfect. And that’s coming from someone with an ever growing touch of OCD
To the point I would have to restrain myself in Pilates class from equidistancing everyone!
Arggh. Meant to type I like the dark icord at the top right but apparently my autocorrect is not a knitter. It keeps changing it to ivory! How did it know that was the other color?
This is such a stunning blanket, but I don’t understand changing the upper right corner, either. Doesn’t it balance with the dark edge on the lower left corner? It’s gorgeous the way it is!
I second (or maybe third or fourth?) the idea that the top right corner balances well with the bottom left. Also that it’s a gorgeous blanket 🙂
Would this be a good bind off for the Swath Wrap? Or would it detract from the bottom which is more linen? Has anyone seen or tried it?
Oh I do love me some applied i-cord. When I started it Star-Eyed Julep, I thought I might lose the will to live. But no! So satisfying. I am listening to The Warmth of Other Suns and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Love your color choices – very cool! But for the sake of our environment, please don’t crank the AC just to snuggle under the blanket. Wishing you unseasonally cold evenings so you’ll get to use it soon!
Aw no worries–that was a joke!
I just did my first I-cord bind off. It looks great! So tidy. But it required knitting four stitches for every one I bound off. I cannot imagine eighteen feet of I-cord (but I have a blanket in process that I plan to use the U-cord bind off on, so…)
Wait. You’re going to replace part of the i-cord? Are you frogging back, or are you going to snip it out? Inquirin’ minds wanna know!
Also wanna know: Are you seaming the i-cord ends together, or grafting?
So many points of curiosity! Your blanket looks great.
That edge of dark at the top right of the blanket was actually the end of my trip around the edge of the blanket, and I hadn’t yet joined the i-cord, so all I had to do was rip back a foot or so and redo it using cream colored yarn. I joined the ends of the i-cord using a tapestry needle and a weird fakey Kitchener stitch I made up because I didn’t provisionally cast on at the beginning. It all moodged together somehow!
I love applied I-cord. I’m currently working it around a shrug. I always finish with a tapestry needle because I forget to do a provisional cast on. I’ve done an i-cord cast off as well.
Can anyone estimate how much more yarn I cord requires compared to single crochet?