I’m using some knitting yarn here, and I’m making trim for a pirate jacket. If you’re using trim for something more formal, you might want something smooth and shiny, like rattail.
So, grab your fork. We’re going to label the tines of the fork as 1, 2, 3, 4, going from left to right. If your fork only has three tines, don’t worry. Label them as 1, 2, and 4. We don’t use tine #2 or #3 anyway.
On the back of the fork, hold your string against the handle. The yarn should go from front to back, and pass behind tine #1.
Wrap your string around the outside (from back to front) and back behind tine #4.
Around the outside again and behind tine #1
And once again around the outside and behind tine #4.
You now have two loops on tine #1. Grab yourself some kind of stick (bamboo skewers and small knitting needles both work pretty well) and use it to take the bottom loop off the tine, while leaving the top loop on. To rephrase, take the bottom loop, move it above the top loop, and then take it off the fork entirely.
You’ve now established the basic pattern.
Take the yarn around the outside and behind tine #1.
You now have two loops on tine #4. Take the bottom loop over the top loop and off the tine.
You will now wrap around the outside of the fork and behind tine #4, and then take the bottom loop off tine #1.
You’ll start accumulating a chain of loops that will magically grow off the back of your fork.
When you’re done, cut your yarn. Take the braid off the fork. You will have two loops at the top of the braid. Thread the end of the yarn through the loops so that they don’t come undone.
While this isn’t the braid that I’m making, here’s a lolita application for flexible braid.
Flexible braid is great for doing couched trim applications like this. (”Couching” is the technical term for laying the braid directly on the fabric and sewing it down, as opposed to weaving it into the fabric or applying it as a trim). It’s got more texture than ribbon, and bends smoothly so that you can do curves without wrinkles.
For the curious, you can potentially do this faster by knitting i-cord on two double pointed knitting needles, but my tendinitis is acting up and knitting aggravates it in a way that doing fork trim doesn’t.
If you’re really finding fork braid to be the greatest thing you’ve ever tried, look into lucet; that’s basically what we’re doing here.
Also, kids in the 8-12 year old range often find this very entertaining, if they’re getting restless and need a quiet activity. Maybe you’re a parent, maybe you want to be the cool cousin at the family reunion when it rains.
