This Is Knot a Bracelet : A Tutorial to Knit and Felt a Bangle Bracelet

This is the last knitting tutorial of the week. I hope you have enjoyed them as much as I have in preparing and posting them. All of these projects are easy and quick to make and require pretty basic knitting skills. Many of them could even be knitting projects for your children. The last involves making an i cord , knotting it and then joining the ends before washing machine felting. In this way you can make a very soft and comfortable bangle bracelet . The materials you will need are feltable 100% wool ( I used Tove ) , double pointed needles (2) in a suitable size ( I used size 4mm), a tape measure and a yarn needle. 1. Measure the wrist of the person you are making this for. To account for shrinking I added 33% ( or 1/3 ) of this measurement as my target length after the knot. My wrist measurement was 18 cm and so I wanted my i cord with knot to be 24 cm. 2. Cast on 6 stitches. I cast on in contrasting yarn to remove later ( waste yarn) but I found it wasn't really necessary because the seam isn't visible after felting anyway. 3. Knit the 6 stitches and then instead of turning your needle like you would normally do push the stitches down to the right hand side of your needle , ignore the fact that your yarn is at the opposite end and knit the next row making sure to pull the first stitch tight. 4. Now keep pushing the knitted row to the right hand side of the needle and knitting the 6 stitches. You will know you are doing the right thing if all the stitches are appearing knitted ( just as if you were knitting in the round ) and after a few rows below you will see a tubular structure that is the beginning of your i cord. All of this may sound strange but it will make sense once you start doing it. 5. Continue in this manner until it is over 20 cm and make a loose knot in the cord . Measure it's length and then continue until your desired length. 6. Cast off the six stitches , cut the yarn and thread your yarn needle. Join the two ends of the cord making sure not to twist it in as neat a manner as possible. 7. I ran these through two cycles of the washing machine. The wool I used was colorfast so I just added them to the regular wash . I tried them on for size and they were perfect. Depending on your wool and temperature of your water you may need more cycles to felt yours. These were very quick to make and I knit up 3 of them in less than one hour. The machine felting took a little longer. The theme for next week will be making things with my absolute favorite material, FELT. I have just heard that we are expecting rain all weekend so I am not sure how many walks in the woods I will be able to take but I might be able to get some reading and household chores done. I wish you all a creative weekend. If you haven't done so already don't forget to vote in the craft off at INDIE FIXX ( you might recognize #2 and #3 :)

Comments

[Carol]

Genius!! At last I understand how to knit an i-cord!! I might try lucetting one as I've been making pendants up until now - a change would be nice - thanks x

[Rachel]

When I saw you had a new post I thought "no way could she have ANOTHER stunning tutorial." And low and behold...another project I can't wait to tackle! I don't know why I was surprised!

[Paige]

These are so wonderful! I am going to make them for girlfriends, and I may embellish them with some handmade silver beads/trinkets I have lying about--what a great, great project!

[Callie]

Thanks *so* much for this tutorial. I was struggling to find something to put in my handmade no-plastic Christmas crackers and these fit perfectly. Cheers.

[eleonor]

I like this tutorial and all things you make. Your photographs are wonderful, it's a real pleasure to read your blog! You are so creative! Many thanks and best wishes to you from Austria!
eleonor