Jewelry made from knitted cord is kind of dreamy – soft, drapey, and so comfortable to wear. This example is made from embroidery floss so you have a million colors to choose from when making your own. It could be in color bands like mine, a single solid color, or from some pretty variegated strand.
Supplies:
– embroidery floss – I used 4 skeins to make this necklace – 1 skein of 351, 1 skein of 648, and 2 skeins of 3865
– 2 double-pointed knitting needles – size 4US/3.5mm was perfect for me
– dull embroidery needle with a large eye
– fray check (optional)
– scissors
– needle nose pliers
– a clasp set – I used one with fold over end caps, but a lot of different things would work
Cast on 4 stitches and start making a knitted cord – a tutorial for this can be found by clicking here. Leave a 6 inch tail at the end for using later.
Knit until you’re ready to change colors (if changing colors is in your design.) Cut the floss you’re working with leaving 4 inches or so.
Tie on a new strand with an overhand knot. I dotted a bit of fray check on the knot for security.
Knit to the row where you reach the knot.
Thread the tails into the dull needle and slide it down the inside of the tube to bury the ends.
Continue knitting as usual, repeating this every time you change colors.
Knit 3 times the length you want your necklace to be (or more, if you want more strands.) Also leave a 6 inch tail at this end.
Blocking:
This can be blocked in two ways. The first is to soak it with water and lay it out flat to dry.
The second (and the one that I used) was to soak it with water, gently pull on the length of it to straighten out the stitches, then hang it to dry with a small amount of weight tied to the bottom. In my case, the top tied to a bathrobe hook in my bathroom, and the bottom tied to my half empty bottle of fray check. This made the cord dry very straight and smooth.
Fold the cord in thirds.
Thread the needle on one of the tails.
Tie the tail around the folded part of the cord.
Stitch through the three strands again.
And tie another knot.
Stitch through one more time, but this time leave a loop.
Stop pulling the floss about here.
Now tie a series of small half hitch knots around the loop.
When the loop is covered in small knots bury the tail into one of the cords.
Do that on both ends so you’ll have a versatile finish that you can use for a variety of clasp options.
I used a fold over finding at each end. Slide the loop into the finding (a little glue wouldn’t hurt, too.)
Use the pliers to close the finding.
Repeat this on the other end.
The same method can be used for making bracelets or any other stranded jewelry!