Help with knitting a border!

#1

Hi all,

So I have a little baby boy on the way and I’ve been working on a blanket to give him when he’s born. The bulk of the blanket is worked in stocking st, normally I would incorporate a garter st border in as I go but the pattern calls for a separate border knitted on smaller needles. I’ve completed the main blanket, but the instructions for the border really confuse me! Any help would be appreciated.

The pattern is as follows:

Beginning at the base, Cast on 24 sts
Work in garter st until border fits all the way round the blanket
Sew border into position, beginning at the base, centre front, and working around the sides.
Sew 2sts of border to every stitch of blanket at the corners, starting 5cm before and after corner, to gently curve border around corners.
Cast off stitches.
Sew top and bottom 24sts of border together to finish.

So… I’m guessing the border is supposed to be one long strip of garter stitch rather than 4 separate pieces? Am I supposed to sew it on as I go, whilst it’s still on the needles? And I really don’t understand what it’s saying about the corners! :frowning:

There’s no clear pictures of the blanket in the magazine, so I can’t see what the corners are supposed to look like or how it’s stitched on. I apologise if I sound really silly, I’ve just never done a border like this before.

Also, has anyone got any suggestions for which stitch I should use to sew the border on? Sewing is really not my strong point!

Many thanks :slight_smile:

#2

That’s what it looks like to me. Make the border then sew it on. Apparently it doesn’t incorporate extra stitches/increases for the corners so I’m not sure how that will work. Give it a try. If you don’t like it you can just rip and do it another way.

#3

Congratulations on the soon to arrive baby boy! That’s wonderful news.
Yes, the border is a 24 stitch wide strip in garter stitch. You could stitch it to the blanket every 12 inches or so but it may be easier and more portable to knit on its own and then stitch to the blanket.
When you get near the end, start seaming the border to the blanket to get an idea of how much more you need to knit.
You could use mattress stitch to join the border and blanket. When you get to the corner, seam maybe 2 garter row edges to the corner stitch so that the border will lie flat and not cup at the corner.

#4

I know this is not what your pattern says, but I’d either short-row the corners to turn them or knit four separate strips, as you mention, rather than trying to gather them evenly. I’d be hard put to gather garter stitch around a corner without making it pucker or stretch.
You could also pick a knitted border you like and use that instead.

#5

Thank you everyone :slight_smile:

I’ve started knitting the border, I just don’t see how it’s going to work as one long strip, as when you try to ‘gently curve’ it around the corners as they’ve advised it won’t lie flat and just curves upwards. I think I may try knitting 4 separate pieces but I’m just not sure how to make sure it’s even, perhaps a bit of trial and error is in order!

#6

I didn’t see how it would work, either. If you decide to do strips, one “ridge” of garter stitch is about one and a half stickinette rows tall.

The other thing you could do, fiddly as it can be, is pick up stitches all around the whole thing and rib around it. The easiest way to do corners like that is to work to the corner, yarn over, stitch, yarn over (and mark that center stitch somehow.) You can keep the stitches on either side in the rib pattern fairly easily and it’ll lie flat.