Fixing Stockinette Curl--Serape

#1

Hi! I learned to knit this past summer and have made a few scarves, a poncho, and some girls’ headbands. Now I’m making the serape (poncho like garment) in Sally Melville’s The Purl Stitch. The front and back are knit in two sections, all in stockinette st, and joined at the shoulder. Then a reverse stockinette border is added around all the edges. I thought I’d try knitting a garter stitch border as I’m knitting the rest, not after. I added in the extra stitches into my count, BUT now the garter stitch border seems to want to “flip” the other way, instead of laying flat. I have about 22 rows of the front piece knit. Should I pull out the whole thing and start over, doing it the way the book says? Or do you think it will lay flatter as it gets bigger?

TIA for any help you can give me!

Patty

#2

The border was probably added later to avoid this.

If your poncho is made of natural fibers, you might be able to block it flat, but if it’s acrylic or mostly acrylic, it probably won’t stay down if you try to block it.

#3

OK, I pulled it all out…and started over! Thankfully I wasn’t TOO far into this big project. I was wondering, though, why it matters if the border is added AFTER the rest of the project is done. Does that help correct the curl of stockinette? Why wouldn’t it work to knit the border at the same time?

Thanks for your help! I have a lot to learn, but it’s very fun.

Patty

#4

When you pick up and knit across the cast on edge, it forms more of a ridge inside. Also the stitches are going in a different direction. Probably the combination of the two help to avoid curling.