I’m starting a study on how much cord I can make in 30 minutes using various techniques. The idea started with my acquisition of the Prym knitting dolly, which feels like a sophisticated version of the “spool with nails” French knitter. It has a carved crystal-like body and loops instead of pegs at the top, and comes with a needle that locks inside the body of the knitting dolly for safe keeping. Why did I acquire it? Because I don’t have one. I thought I did, a kid’s version, but it isn’t in the knitting bin or the cord bin. Hm.

I did have a bit of trouble remembering how to use a knitting dolly, I kept doing the initial twist round as I built the cord and it took a a few minutes of puzzling to figure out why my loops were twisted. It was good data, at least.

I started my timing once my technique was settled. In 30 minutes I made 17” of cord with the knitting dolly. This number is for my skill set at the time of knitting (I’m sure I could improve the length per time with practice), and the 4-peg knitting dolly with commercial worsted weight cotton yarn.

The resulting cord is smooth and soft, with mostly regular stitches, and 24% stretch. I calculated stretch by measuring the cord stretched, subtracting the unstretched length, then dividing by the unstretched length. In this case (21-17)/17*100. This technique can be used to make very long cords.

I plan to make 30 minute samples of other cord making methods and do a comparison of both length produced and quality.