How to Crochet a Three-Stitch I-Cord.

Use smooth, light-coloured yarn and a suitable hook. Keep a blunt cable needle or second slim hook nearby to hold the waiting loops. Fluffy yarn hides a dropped loop, while slippery yarn can make it harder to keep the loops safe.

Make an adjustable slip knot, leaving a tail to secure later. Make three chains. The active loop on the hook is separate from those three completed chain links.

Keep the chains relaxed enough to enter without splitting the yarn. If they are very tight, make a fresh start with looser tension.

Keep the active loop on the hook. Insert into the second chain from the hook, yarn over and draw up a loop. Leave both loops on the hook.

Insert into the third chain from the hook, yarn over and draw up another loop. Leave it beside the others. You should now have three loops on the shaft.

Do not pull a new loop through the earlier ones during this setup. You are picking up loops, not completing single crochet stitches.

Find the loop nearest the handle, the middle loop and the loop nearest the hook tip. Straighten any that have crossed, keeping the same face of the work towards you.

Slip a cable needle or spare hook through the middle and tip-side loops. Ease those two loops off the crochet hook, leaving only the handle-side loop on it. You can hold the waiting loops with your fingers instead if you can keep them secure.

Keep the waiting loops in order: the middle one goes back first, then the outside one. Do not turn the work or pull hard on the working yarn while they are off the hook.

Keep supporting the two waiting loops throughout these movements:

1. Yarn over and draw through the one loop on the hook. One new loop remains; the other two are still held safely off the hook.
2. Put the nearer waiting loop back onto the hook without twisting it. Yarn over and draw through that loop only. Leave the first new loop untouched. You now have two loops on the hook.
3. Put the last waiting loop back onto the hook. Yarn over and draw through that loop only, leaving the other two untouched. All three loops are now back on the hook.

That completes one repeat. Keep the yarn loose enough that the waiting loops do not shrink or slip out. Drawing through all three together would close the cord, so save that movement for finishing.

Hold the middle and tip-side loops safely off the hook again. Work the loop left on the hook, then replace and work each waiting loop as before.

Count twelve complete repeats, excluding the initial pickup. Pause after each repeat to check that three loops are back on the hook and none has crossed over another.

A narrow cord should begin to form below the hook. The first little section may look untidy before you have enough length to hold. Move your supporting fingers up as it grows, without tugging the waiting loops tight.

Twelve repeats make a practice sample, not a fixed length. For a project, measure the cord and follow the pattern’s length and attachment instructions.

Stop pulling the working yarn as soon as a waiting loop slips free. Hold the remaining loops and use a spare hook to catch the dropped one before it unravels farther.

Replace it only if you can identify its original position and see that it has not unravelled into a lower repeat. Do not add a new loop just to get back to three.

If you cannot trace the loop confidently, remake this short sample. Practise lifting and replacing the two waiting loops before working a longer cord.

Finish a repeat with all three loops on the hook. Yarn over and draw through all three together. Cut the yarn, leaving a tail for weaving in, then draw that tail completely through the remaining loop.

Use a blunt yarn needle to secure both tails within the cord without distorting the ends. The finishing lesson explains closing an active loop and weaving in a tail.

Check for a missing column or a suddenly closed section along the cord. If you plan to use this method for a bag handle, test the cord’s stretch, attachment and suitability for the load separately. This small practice sample does not establish its strength.