I am knitting "Tea Party Purse" from the Aug-Oct 2005 CO, p. 70 & 71. The paragraph above 'flap" gives instructions for I-Cord BO Around Top of Bag:" What is the I-Cord and what does BO mean?
Thank you,

BO is the abbreviation for "bind-off," the process that locks your last row of stitches in place so your knitting doesn't fall apart when it comes off the needles.

There are several ways to bind off. The I-cord bind-off is a great one: it not only locks your stitches in place but creates a beautiful decorative edge at the same time.

(In British knitting terminology, bind-off is "cast-off.")

And "I-cord" is short for "idiot cord", an expression created by (I believe) Elizabeth Zimmerman. The cord can be made and used in several ways. The most common is to make a separate cord, for use as ties on knitted items. Using dp needles, cast on the number of stitches you would like for your cord - 3 is an absolute minimum. Knit the stitches, then slide them to the other end of the dp needle and knit them again, pulling your yarn quite tight. Repeat. After 6-7 rows, you will see the beginning of a hollow cord. This creates a "free-standing" i-cord, and can also be made on the little wooden spool knitters children like to use. For i-cord cast offs and edgings, just follow the directions in your pattern, or Google "i cord".

And to pick-up where Baa Baa left off, I-cord stands for "Idiot Cord", an unvention by Elizabeth Zimmerman. It is a narrow knitted tube, usually worked on an odd number of stitches such as 3,5 or 7.

If you are familiar with a knitting nancy or spool knitting, I-cord is basically the same thing only created with knitting needles. I think there is an illustration of I-cord at <http://www.knittinghelp.com> You don't need to use double pointed needles to make I-cord. I frequently make it using straights, or even if using dpns, I'll just slide the stitches back onto the left needle.

An I-cord bind-off can be done with either live edge stitches or bound-off edge stitches. If you have live stitches, work all but on stitch of the I-cord, then either k2tog or SSK the last stitch of the I-cord with one live-stitch from your edge.

If you are working with a bound-off edge, work all but the last stitch of the I-cord, then I would slip this stitch purl wise onto my working needle (my right needle), then insert the working needle tip into the bound edge, wrap my yarn and pull a loop through, then either pass the slipped I-cord stitch over, or slip both the loop and last stitch back onto my holding needle (the left needle for me), and either K2tog or SSK.