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From cute wall art to personalised homewares, knitted i-cords are everywhere at the moment. But making i-cord by hand takes a lot of time and effort, and many knitters also find it fiddly, repetitive and tedious. So wouldn't it be good to have a machine to do it for you?
A big step up from traditional French knitting dollies, the i-Cord Knitting Machine from Caydo takes all the work out of the process, producing metres of i-cord at the press of a button. But how easy is it to use, and are you sacrificing neatness and consistency for speed and efficiency? We tested Caydo's Electric i-Cord Knitting Machine i1 Pro Max to find out.
Jump straight to:
- Summary
- How we tested
- Caydo i-Cord Knitting Machine Kit review
- Where to buy the Caydo i-Cord Knitting Machine Kit
- Our verdict: should you buy the Caydo i-Cord Knitting Machine Kit?
- Looking for more?
Summary
Quick, easy and efficient to use, the Caydo i-Cord Knitting Machine Kit takes the effort out of creating knitted i-cords.
- Buy now from Caydo
How we tested
We set up the Caydo i-Cord Knitting Machine by following the instructions in the user manual and accompanying videos on YouTube. Then we followed the tutorial on the Caydo website to make a piece of knitted wire art.
Caydo i-Cord Knitting Machine Kit review
Key features
- Knitting machine unit with clamp
- 2 counterweight blocks
- 4 replacement needles
- USB-C cable
- Dual-ended metal crochet hook and tapestry needle
- A 25g/50m ball of acrylic yarn
- Screwdriver
- Instruction booklet
- 16 balls of acrylic yarn (25g/50m)
- 2 lengths of aluminium wire for shaping
- 15mm plastic crochet hook
- Pliers
- 30 plastic sealing accessories
Ease of use – 4.5/5
The Caydo i-Cord Knitting Machine is ready to use straight out of its (well-packaged) box – the only delay was the time it took to find a plug with a USB adapter, as this was not included in the kit. The machine comes with a comprehensive but poorly translated instruction manual, plus a QR code for a video playlist that covers all the basics.
It took around five minutes to set up the i-cord maker for its first use. The base attaches to the table with a clamp, then the yarn is threaded through a tensioning loop and down through the machine. The dual-ended crochet hook is a thoughtful addition to the kit, enabling you to thread the yarn with the tapestry end during this step, and then place it with the hook end in the next step. The trickiest part of the set-up is ensuring the yarn is caught by the hooks in the correct order. You must also remember to open the hooks before you start. Finally, weights are added to provide the correct tension to the yarn tail.
When I first pressed the 'on' button, the machine stuttered and I was worried it wasn't working, but it soon righted itself and got into its groove. The Caydo worked at an impressive pace, producing 80cm of i-cord in 5 minutes. It beat my hand-knitting speed by a huge margin.
Functionality – 4/5
The Caydo i-cord maker is compact, attractively designed, and comes in a choice of three colours (purple, blue and pink). As it's mains rather than battery powered, it's not particularly portable, and you need a suitable table next to a power outlet to be able to use it. There are pros and cons to both power options, but I think I would have preferred a battery or rechargeable model to replicate the flexibility of a hand-powered machine.
This is a tool with a single purpose, so its functionality is, by nature, limited – and that's not a bad thing. There's one button, which acts as the on/off switch, plus a handle you turn to move the hooks when setting up the yarn. It's a simple design with no fussy or complicated features, which makes for easy usage and quick troubleshooting.
I was pleased to see that this i-cord maker, unlike most, comes with replacement hooks. This should give the Caydo a longer lifespan than many of its competitors, as you can simply switch out a hook when it gets worn or damaged. The process is straightforward if you follow the instructional video on YouTube, and the box even includes a small screwdriver to help remove the transparent cover.
Performance – 3.5/5
I was surprised to find that my first length of i-cord came out feeling tacky. Caydo recommends adding olive oil to the crochet hooks to help the machine run smoothly, so I suspect they were pre-greased at the factory, and the residue transferred to the yarn. This may be worth bearing in mind if you don't plan to wash your i-cord before using it.
My first time using the machine, I didn't put enough tension on the yarn during the initial stitches, and the start of the i-cord looked messy. The second time I tried pulling the yarn taught and it looked much neater, though not quite as neat as I would expect to achieve by hand. Similarly, if you don't keep tension on the ball-end of the yarn when finishing your cord, then the yarn can come off the hooks. I had to rip back a few rounds each time, as I'd lost some stitches.
Aside from my initial issues with the start and end, I was very impressed with the consistency of the i-cord. It had neat, even stitches all the way through. The machine works with smooth 4ply, DK or aran yarn and is not recommended for anything bigger or smaller. Slubby, fluffy and novelty yarns should also be avoided, as they could catch in the hooks.
Supplies – 4/5
The Caydo i-cord kit comes with the supplies you need to make your own i-cord wire art. As well as the listed components (yarn, aluminium wire, a crochet hook, pliers and sealing accessories), there was also a template booklet in the box, which can be used to create shapes including the love heart shown above. The tutorial instructions on the website don't go into a lot of depth, so a bit of crafting confidence and knitting knowledge is useful if you want a neat, professional finish.
The yarn supplied is a good weight for the projects. It's not too thick and produces a dense enough i-cord that the wire isn't visible underneath. I found that the wire bent easily enough without the pliers, though these may be handy for more complex shapes. The sealing accessories were easy to use to cover any sharp edges, and there are enough for numerous projects.
At 15mm, the crochet hook was far too big to be useful – and as the machine only works with yarns up to aran weight, I can't imagine a scenario where it would be suitable. The smaller dual-ended one provided with the machine is a much better size.
Value for money – 4/5
The Caydo i-Cord Knitting Machine costs around £69 for the complete kit. It's £46 for the machine alone, which is not much more than you'd pay for a high-end hand-cranked i-cord maker. If you're likely to make lots of i-cord art, or are considering setting up a small business selling personalised goods, then it's absolutely worth the money. However, for occasional makers, there are much cheaper tools that will do the job just as well – albeit more slowly.
The kit as a whole may not represent such good value for anyone who already has a stash of craft supplies (or is willing to source the parts cheaper elsewhere), but if you're new to both knitting and i-cord making, then it has some useful components. I would have liked better quality yarn, though, especially as the website specified cotton, but we received acrylic.
Where to buy the Caydo i-Cord Knitting Machine Kit
Buy now from Caydo.
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Our verdict: should you buy the Caydo i-Cord Knitting Machine Kit?
Many knitters dislike making i-cord by hand, and if you're one of them, then this machine is a great buy. While it's much more convenient than a hand-powered i-cord maker, don't expect to be able to set it going and walk away – between feeding the yarn to prevent tangles and moving the weights to keep tension on the cord, the Caydo needs plenty of supervision. But its speed and ease of use more than make up for this. If you need a lot of i-cord for a project and you need it fast, look no further!
Looking for more?
For another time-saving tool, try making speedy stitches with a knitting machine.
