close up of hands working the I-cord buttonhole technique on a piece of blue patterned knitting

 

 

EZ's Hidden I-Cord Buttonholes

Dear Knitter,

This topic has been on my To-Be-Video’d list for a while. My grandson Eli just happened to be home and filmed it for me.

In Elizabeth Zimmermann’s youth I-cord was produced using a wooden spool with 3 bent nails around the top; it was called Idiot Cord. Later she figured out how to produce I-cord on a pair of needles and she began to invent new I-cord techniques left-and-right. (It was she who shortened Idiot Cord to I-cord; finding the original term “rather rude”. The new term has been universally accepted.)

In her long list of unique applications were 3 marvelous buttonholes, described in her book, Knitting Workshop, including Hidden, Looped, and Tab.

I used her Hidden I-Cord Buttonholes on my Norwegian Blue Cardigan (Wool Gathering Issue 111), shown below, and I demonstrate two versions of it in the video. First I show applying them to raw sts - then (at about 2:30) I show applying them to picked up sts from an existing piece of I-cord.

To pick up sts, simply choose a half-stitch from the finished layer of Cord, and hook your needle under the strand (do not veer out of line). I usually pick up about 20-30 sts at a time, then work the Applied Cord onto them until I get to where I want a buttonhole.

Note: Choose your buttons for the project before you knit the buttonholes in order to adjust for size. On the Norwegian Blue Cardigan, I used very small silver buttons, and worked only 2-rounds of cord for the holes.

You’ll also notice that I employ mirror-imaged Latvian Braid on the new WG design; for a demo of that technique, see my Blog #18.

Good Knitting!

Meg Swansen