During the last year I've had some questions on how to work the attached I-cord along fx Lonely Leftovers Vest and Nomad Jacket. It's one of those techniques that, once you get the hang of it, you could basically do it in your sleep. However no one on Youtube seem to do it the same way I do, so this was one of the knitting tutorials I knew that I had to make!
The attached I-cord is different to what is often known as an applied I-cord. The applied I-cord is worked straight onto the edge by picking up one stitch at the time as you work it. However, that technique creates an I-cord that kind of curves the edge and hides it, which means that it kinda leans into the wrong side of the garment. This technique works great for some pieces, but for both Lonely Leftovers Vest and Nomad Jacket I wanted a prominent I-cord edge that lay flat and is visible from the right side.
So this is how you work, what I've decided to call, an attached I-cord!
Pick up and knit stitches along your edge from the right side. The pattern usually tells you how many, or with which interval.
Break the yarn once you reach the end of your edge, and slide your work to the other side of the needle. This is one of those things that might seem weird in text form, so make sure to watch the video tutorial if this sounds confusing!
Use new yarn and cast on how many stitches the pattern tells you to on the right needle (this is usually the same yarn as before - I'm just using a different color for the sake of differentiating them in the video).
Slip the stitches you just casted on, onto the left needle (with the stitches you previously picked up).
Begin to knit the I-cord, like this: Knit until you have 1 st left of the sts you casted on, knit the next 2 sts together through the back loop (k2tog tbl), slip the sts on the right needle onto the left needle, knit until you have 1 st left of the sts you casted on, k2tog tbl* repeat *-* until you reach the end of the sts you previously picked up, and therefore have bound off all of the stitches you previously picked up with your I-cord.
Break the yarn and pull the end through the remaining stitches (or do whatever the pattern tells you to do!).