PrymComfort Twist Cord Tubes Knitting Mill, Alabaster White/Purple Small

I had to watch a few YouTube demos to figure out how to properly use it, as I’m a visual learner and am useless with written instructions. Knitting i-cords takes me forever, and I have trouble getting the tension right. This took care of all that for me. A bundle of cords that would have taken me an entire week to make were done in under 45 minutes. I probably could have gone faster, but I wanted to make sure my tension was even, so I kept everything at a consistent medium pace.My only complaint is how difficult it is to remove the weight from the unit. Mine came pre-inserted into the unit for storage, and it took a ridiculous amount of strength to remove it. I was concerned I would break the device - eventually I stopped trying and waited until I saw someone remove it in a demo video to make sure I was doing it right, and even they struggled with it, despite having removed it multiple times before! Would have been better if it screwed into place instead. I’m still convinced I’m going to break the entire machine if I ever store it in it again.

Tricky at first but after you get a hang of it you can make an i cord quick. Almost any size three yarn works. I have also tried thread but it comes out looser. The only yarn that I had trouble with is cotton yarn like sugars and creme. I’m assuming because of the strands.

I am so pleased I purchased this! I was hired by a “birth educator” to knit this uterus, ovaries with lots of I-cords. I am I am not good at knitting I cords, being a fairly new knitter. After several hour at attempting to knit the I cords, with only a few inches progress. I ordered this device. It was very easy to set up and use by following the directions included. Within 30 minutes I had 8 feet of i-cord. pattern called for I-cord with 5 stitches, I was unable to find a device that had more then 4 stitches. Cord is a little smaller, but I am ok with this, as long as I don’t have to knit any more.I am going to make hair ribbons with leftover yarn using this wonderful product .

Mill froze after producing 6” of iCord in right-hand cranking, then would only work in left-hand cranking. After taking the mill apart, I discovered two defects: one of the four channels that holds the needles in place was narrower than the other channels so the needle would bind/not slide; the other defect was a burr in the channel used by the needles to go up/down causing the needle to bind again (could not crank). After using fine sandpaper to (fix #1) widen the channel that held the needle and (fix #2) sand the burr smooth, this mill works as designed. RATING: 1 star before fix, 5 stars after fix.

I really wanted this to be great for making a cord. I don’t knit, and crocheting an Icord is stupidly time-consuming. It took a few tries to get it right, using a nice smooth type “3” acrylic yarn. But I got it right, and it went pretty fast (paying rather close attention to it.) Then came trying thinner wool and cotton yarns (which are not as smooth). Disaster. I almost gave up, but watched a few YouTubes and tried again. The key was to have enough tension to pull the knitted piece down thru the tube, and NOT too much tension on the yarn going in. Don’t even try holding the unit in your hands, unless you have 4 hands. I attached it to a TV tray. I began with a large office-binder-clip as a bottom weight. The very strange weight it comes with is too heavy to start. Follow the casting-on instructions closely, and go slowly on the first few rounds, keeping a tension on what’s coming out the bottom, with your hand. As for the yarn going in, the tension needs to be just right for the yarn weight. Too loose and stitches can drop. Too tight and the hooks can’t do their job, it’ll get stuck. I found that having the yarn hang over the table edge provided some gravity tension, and you can let it run loosely through your hand. DON’T make the machine unwind the yarn ball or pull out of a skein. “You” do that. Then, keep doing real gentle tugs to get the cord going down the tube. After a few inches, I put that heavier weight on (again, a bizarrely designed thing!) With some yarns, that’s enough to keep it going down the tube. When it’s working properly, you don’t see much yarn at the top. It’ll be a square with 4 loops (one around each hook). If there’s more than that, tug gently. If that doesn’t do it and it gets bunched up, start over. I realize this is getting long, but let’s understand what this unit is doing. As it makes a 360 rotation, each hook is doing this: grabbing yarn in the hook, moving down and closing the latch, pulling the new loop under an existing yarn piece (without getting caught on it!) moving back up and freeing the bottom (older) yarn piece to go down the tube while opening the latch to free new yarn piece to become the bottom. Then it begins again by grabbing a new yarn piece. In one 360 rotation, each of the 4 hooks are doing a different step of the above, at any one time. I spent a few hours on this, and can now say that I’m thrilled with it! All different types of yarn (but reasonably smooth and not thicker than #3) of course I tried a #4. Too thick for the tube. That’s why I gave this 4 stars, not 5. Couldn’t it be a few mm’s bigger? Get the hang of it, and I think you’ll love it!!