I wanted to make a bunch of twisty, corkscrew i-cord with my knitting machine, eventually to go onto a hat to make a sort of “wig”. I really searched and couldn’t find anything about machine knitting curly i-cord .

I adapted the HK method to MKing. It might not look like much right off the machine. If you wrap it around your finger it will help it to settle into its maximum curliness.

Use the pattern in your punch card or electronic machine, OR it’s simple enough to just manipulate the needles by hand as follows:

Cast on 4 stitches, L2-R2. Hang a claw weight. COR. Set your carriage to slip (PART) in both directions.
COR. All 4 needles selected into UWP, knit right to left, all needles will knit
COL. No needles selected into UWP, knit left to right, no needles will knit.
COR. Select L2, L1 and R2 into UWP, knit right to left, needle R1 will slip.
COL. No needles selected into UWP, knit left to right, no needles will knit.
COR. Select L2, L1 and R2 into UWP, knit right to left, needle R1 will slip.
COL. No needles selected into UWP, knit left to right, no needles will knit.
Repeat ad nauseum.

(UWP = Upper Working Position: “D” on Brother machines and “C” on Singer/Studio/Silver Reed machines)

So much quicker with automatic patterning.

Easy peasy.