Hi everyone!
I’ve been knitting for several months now, but I still haven’t figured out something that would seem to be very basic: the corners of my work turn out round instead of square. I can’t figure it out. I’ve tried to cast on really loosely, but that doesn’t seem to affect anything. I’m currently working on a scarf that has a seed stitch border, and because of the rounding the border looks really odd.
Also: while I’m on the subject, my seed stitch border is really loose. I can’t figure out how to make it tight and pretty like I’ve seen in pictures.
Help?
Thank you so much… Any input would be greatly appreciated…
Emma
Basic question
Not sure about the round corners. If your seed stitch is too loose have you tried a smaller needle?
maybe post a picture, I started knitting a few months ago myself and my borders tend to be messy looking. Not the cast on edges but the ones on either sides, fortunately, none of my edges have been showing yet (had to stich together all of them for the projects so far).
I think that a lot of times this comes from tension issues. Which are very typical when you are new to knitting. When you get to that last/first stitch from one row to the next we have a tendency to either knit it too tight or leave it too loose. It takes time and experience to realize what the right tension is there. I usually look at the loop that is created on my first knit of the next row and make sure that it is the same size as all my other stitches. Generally that helps.
Yes, adding to what trvvn5 said, knit or purl the first st of the row as usual, then tug the yarn a bit and work the next couple sts a little tighter, then use your regular tension for the rest of the row. That little pull helps take up the extra bit of yarn from the last stitch and they’re not so loose.
Even tension is something that comes with practice and you’ll get there. Using a needle one size smaller on the seed st may help.
Thanks so much for all the replies. Yeah, I figured it had something to do with my tension, but I can’t figure out how to fix it. Something about wrapping the yarn around my pinkie twice? Anyway, I’ve attached a picture of my work (Border.jpg / the first one / pink one). I don’t know if you can see it clearly, but the left side has a knit border and the right side has a seed border (I was experimenting with both). The seed border is all funky-looking, and both corners are rounded. What’s odd is that I did this exact same piece several days ago but with a 3-row knit border below (so I did three rows of plain knit before going on to this pattern), and the sides of the below-knit-border extended further than the sides of the side-knit-borders.
As a related question, is tension the reason why, when I make a single cable with a knit border, the top and bottom of the cable bulge out? (Example attached - Bulge.jpg / the second one / white one)
Oh, the pictures were posted in reverse order. But the pink one pertains to the first question and the white one to the second. 
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Excellent pictures.
With the white swatch:
You will notice the all-knit edges on left and right (garter stitch is the pattern) has (needs) more rows per inch than the other stitches used in the swatch. To fix it, after about 4 or 5 rows, knit a short row in the garter stitch border.
Cables can curl because they are stockinette stitch, I think they will block flat.
With the pink swatch:
Garter vs seed stitch, again you need more rows of garter to reach an inch in length, seed stitch has a row gauge between garter and stockinette so maybe you need a short row every 8 to 10 rows?
What is the stitch pattern you used between the cables/ribs on the white swatch?
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Hi Jack, thanks for the advice. How would I go about knitting an extra row in the border without affecting the middle pattern?
Also, the pattern inside the diamond on the white swatch is (well… supposed to be) a moss stitch. 
Cables pull in so you aren’t doing anything wrong. They’re like ribbing. 
To add more rows to the border only you do what is a called a short row. Look in advanced techniques in the video section and it shows how to do them.
Thank you so much to everyone who helped!!! I really appreciate it. I’m about to look at how to do a short row and hopefully that will help. :mrgreen: