Red Heart’s Cordial yarn was originally designed with macramé in mind. This yarn has more of a ropey appearance and not a whole lot of stretch, which is ideal for some projects, but does take a bit of special care when you’re knitting with it. Here are 3 tips for knitting with Braided Cord.
Red Heart’s Cordial in Natural and Jazzy
TIP 1
If you have ever knit with cotton, you’ll know how this yarn feels as you knit it. There’s usually very little stretch in cotton, which means you might have to take a break more frequently or loosen up your gauge if you’re a tight knitter.
Most other fibers stretch a great deal, which acts as a cushion for the joints in our hands. With firmer fibers you’re using a lot more strength from your hands to knit up your project.
TIP 2
Another thing I noticed about this yarn is the technique used to put it together. It’s stranded and all the threads are woven in together. This gives the yarn an amazing amount of strength and endurance. It’s going to hold up really well to wear and tear over the years.
It also means that the ends could fray once cut. For some projects this would not be a problem, but others it might be slightly more difficult. I would suggest putting a dab of anti-fray liquid or spray on the cut end of the yarn.
You can see how the natural ends tend to spread out a bit.
TIP 3
What you really need to consider with this yarn is what projects would benefit from this particular yarn. Anything you need to be extremely durable such as rugs, potholders, storage containers and anything that would be used outdoors.
The same factors that contribute to the durability of this yarn also give it a slightly stiff gauge, which is perfect for the previously mentioned projects.
Knitting with braided cord.
With these 3 tips for knitting with braided cord, you’ll have a relatively seamless transition. Braided cord offers a wide variety of projects that would not be possible with regular yarn no matter the fiber composition. One of the larger projects a friend suggested to me was a knitted hammock, an interesting and ambitious idea that Cordial is perfect for!
