Letters
Edged Out
Dear Kay,
I mean, it’s the sort of thing I thought I’d blast through while watching some middling binge. An attached i-cord edge to my Watercolor Scarf, snipsnap.
Well, let me tell you. I think my i-cord skills have flown to Florida for the winter.
I’ve edged multiple blankets in attached i-cord. It is a thing I know how to do. But for some reason, my attached i-cord for this project came out all lumpy, pinched, terrible. Stressy i-cord is bad i-cord.
I worked it using 4-stitch i-cord.
Didn’t like the way it weighed down the edges of this light scarf. Too dimensional!
This is much worse than it looks here, trust me.
I ripped that out and went with 3-stitch i-cord.
Same problem.
I pivoted to an edge I really like on the Cityscape Scarf (another project in Field Guide No. 16: Painterly).
Pick up 2 stitches for every 3 stitches along the long seam, then knit a few rows, then bind off.
It counteracts the curl of stockinette. It’s the same depth as the rest of the scarf, so there’s no tubular weigh-down along the edges.
This edging is a superskinny log cabin moment. Finish one side, turn 90 degrees, start picking up for the next side.
It’s tidy. It’s functional. I resisted it because it meant I would have to weave a bunch of ends rather than thread them into my i-cord tube.
But as I thought about it, even the hide-it-in-the-i-cord tube method requires threading the needle for each end.
It’s not much more work to do the Jen A-C Needle Wigglin’ End Weaving that has worked so well for me. (Here’s that cinematic masterpiece if you want to see how Jen does it.)
Feeling a lot better about this whole thing. Eager to festoon myself with this batch of Kaffe Fassett colorwow.
And what, I know you’re wondering, is the middling binge that is my companion for this effort? A Discovery of Witches. Matthew Goode (young Antony Armstrong-Jones in The Crown, Henry Talbot in Downton Abbey) makes for an excellent, pallid vampire, but there’s a lot of fuss about a missing library book at the Bodleian, and I’m just thinking Interlibrary Loan would solve the whole thing pretty fast.
Love,
Ann
Love the colors! And a fine way to do the edge.
Great idea! I will be doing that today!!
Yay and thank you…inspiration. Needs that.
Beautiful! And first time I have seen an edging other than neutrals or red. Maybe they’ve been out there but I haven’t noticed them. Yellow! The skies the limit now.
I need to remember this. And what beautiful colors for your scarf!!
I have the same problem with the Tumbling Blocks scarf I made my daughter for Christmas with your worsted Sweet Potato yarn. The scarf is now back in my knitting basket to be fixed. Would this method work, do you think?
I think it works really well. One detail: I soaked and blocked my scarf before adding the edging. I want to soak and block it again now that it’s done, so that the edge yarn is as floofy and soft as the body of the scarf.
Thanks! I already wet blocked the scarf really firmly to avoid the roll but to no avail. So will do this edging! Your post came at the right moment!
After all that work, it ‘pays’ to work a finishing that looks good … isn’t that why we frog things?
It’s lovely!
And read ‘Discovery of Witches’ – the books were page turners full of fun, and spot on history and descriptions of hallowed libraries.
I definitely second reading the books!
And I definitely third reading the books! Also, just love the colors on this scarf and enjoyed the discussion on how different edgings can make or break a project. All in all, a multi-useful post. Thanks!
Perfect timing. Knitting and weaving of ends is finished, On to the (revised) edging!
I copied an edge from a sweater pattern:
Add 3sts to each side: RS slip first st and knit to 3sts Before end of row,sl1, k2
WS sl1, p to 3sts before end of row, sl1, p2
I also did Patty’s matching cast on and cast off: German Twisted cast on and Icelandic (Norwegian) cast off. All edges are narrow and look the same.
It was fun to knit edge in intarsia on each row.
Can send picture if needed.
Eloise, if you could post a picture that might help. I haven’t started yet, so my options are quite open.
I posted a picture in the Lounge. The edges did not curl while knitting. Best of all the edges were finished at cast off…”faux I-cord”!
Very beautiful!
Very colorful, and Kermit was a perfect choice to model it!
I just binge-watched season 1 of Discovery of Witches, saw the first episode of S 2 and soooo want to subscribe to AMC+, just don;t want to spend $$. I don’t think I could knit to it, too much detailto watch in the show (faces, clothes, subtle looks). Read the 1st book years ago, and now I want to re-read it and the other 2.
I read the first 3 books in the Discovery trilogy 5 or 6 years ago and bought the 4th before the pandemic. I’m reading it now and it’s just as good as the first 3. Sometimes the first book in a trilogy is great and then it’s all downhill. “Dune” is an example. I watched the trailer for the 1st season I’m going to have to find a way to watch. We don’t do cable. Cheers.
The show just appeared on HBOMax, so if you have that streaming option, you can watch it there. (Also, just FYI, you get HBOMax free if you have an ATT cellphone plan or ATT internet, which is how we have it.) I loved the books and read them and listened to the audiobooks many times, but the TV show just did not grab me at all when it first came out and we still had cable. I may have to give it another go now that it’s streaming. I do love Matthew Goode but the whole thing was rather bloodless to me, no pun intended!
I have an enormous beautiful blanket without an edge any ideas other than I cord ?
The one I describe here would work well!
I can vouch for that! I did a reverse stockinette edging on a baby log cabin blanket because it looked like i-cord but wasn’t fussy. But Ann, I did it along each edge, not thinking to give it the skinny log cabin treatment; that’s genius!
Jen’s video led me down a whole ‘nother rabbit hole of her Lessons In Intarsia series …. they’re all really great!
What’s the name of that color you used for the edge? – because it’s fabulous. (Felted Tweed, right?)
That is one of Kaffe’s new colors of Rowan Felted Tweed: the zingy Sulphur.
I enjoyed reading the books, but the actress chosen to play her I could not abide.
The new edging looks great- love the color. If you like Matthew Goode, try the movie Leap Year, a fluffy romantic comedy also starring Amy Adams.
How funny, I made the Cityscape scarf and did an iCord edge and love it! Need to send a picture…. Love it.
Dear Kay & Ann:
Will you be restocking the Watercolor Cowl kits and other Kaffe kits? I missed the boat and would love to be able to take a stab at creating a whole sweater in these glorious colors.
Thank you,
Debbie