I’ve been working on some small but lovely details of garb production lately.  I need a way to make cording for dress laces and points, so I’ve worked out that a 2-stitch i-cord, if knitted through the back loop, yields something that looks very much like cord made with a lucet.
This is #30 crochet cotton, worked on 0000 needles.  I’ve got fatter darning needles.

(Another anachronism: You can find me during Morning Walk Time easily: I’m the one with a ball of thread pinned to her sweater, squinting at her hands.  I’ve discovered I can knit-and-walk.  Look out, world!)

Quickie i-cord instruction: Cast on two stitches.  Knit both through the back loop.  Switch the empty needle to your right hand – DON’T TURN THE WORK.  Slide those stitches from the ‘received’ end of their needle to the ‘ready to knit’ end.  Start again.  Knit two stitches.  Slide and switch needles.  Knit two stitches.  Slide and switch.

I’ve also practiced my eyelets.

Again, the cord is crochet cotton, but slightly larger in gauge, and also rather aged.  I get given boxes of Craft Supplies – Unknown Vintage from time to time, and I like to try to use them up.  The eyelets are sewn in cotton floss.  Someday I will sew eyelets in linen thread, and knit lacings with linen or wool.

But I have this large shoebox, full of crochet cottons…I will try to find some other use for the varigated ones (shudder).  Perhaps climber strings for runner beans.

I have also been playing with cardweaving, in hopes of fixing up the back lacing of my plaid (only) kirtle. Here’s a test:

This is the edge of a little linen bag that I threw together to test the idea and workings of cardweaving onto fabric.  It worked very well, and I’ll be putting together a tutorial someday soon.

This was a fun little bag to do – the yarn is wool from a doorprize, and the linen is left over from Spoon’s shirt.  Of course there are mistakes design features in it, and having worked the whole little project through, I see opportunities for making it better.  It took maybe three hours to do the whole thing, with cardwoven trim on the opening, down the seam allowance, and across the bottom.  I bet I can get it down to two since I know what I’m doing now.  Nice little present. 

For that matter, the cords make nice presents too, especially if they had their aglets on.  More on that after the camera battery charges.