I am 80 yrs old and have been knitting since I was 16 but I have a problem with the sweaters I am knitting for 2 soon to be greatgrand children…must be alzheimer’s creeping up on me. The sweater is finished with 5 rows of knit stitch and when I bind off the the stitches immediately fold up onto the body. I can not seem to be able to fix this. I know I am not the first knitter to experience this so I am asking for all your suggestions. Thanks
Welcome to KnittingHelp!
Congratulations on the soon to be greatgrand children and on your long knitting career. How wonderful.
Don’t head for the doctor yet. If your sweater is stockinette, even 5 rows of garter stitch (all knit) won’t keep it from wanting to curl or flip the edge. That’s just the nature of stockinette. You can try blocking the sweater (wet and pin out to a board) but even that is not completely successful. Better with wool yarn but not perfect. I’ve found that if you have to seam pieces, the finished sweater lies fairly flat.
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That’s answered a question for me too. How great this forum is helping experienced to complete beginner with the same challenges. Thanks again for all your assistance!
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Thanks for the input…now another question…does that mean if I knit some kind of design…lace or something…right before I do the garter stitch…it will make it flatter? or would a k/p seed stitch be better than garter stitch? That’s 2 questions isn’t it? I’ really appreciative of the help…seems strange I haven’t run into this problem before.
Sandy
A very open lace pattern might help. So might a deeper garter stitch border. If you’re seaming front and back, the seam will help tame the curl too, at least a bit.
I’ve tried a grosgrain ribbon lining on the fronts of cardigans (on the buttonhole and button bands) and that helps with the curl somewhat. @Jan_in_CA , what do you think?
What pattern are you following?
I am using one of the knit from the top down patterns…which I love…don’t have any problems with the button bands just that damned garter border…I will try some of these suggestions and let you know how they turn out…oh arrrgghhh this means I have to unknit…oh well they say busy hands are happy hands.
Thanks
Sandy
OK, since it’s top down, perhaps you could try making the garter border deeper. That would be relatively easy to do, just take out the bind off.
The other thought is not to worry about it. The babies will love the sweaters and look fabulous in them, I’m sure.
Which pattern are you making?
the 5 hour with eyelets…really cute but 5 hours a joke
There are some variations on the 5HBS. Maybe similar to this one:
I’ve made this many times and yes, I figure I’ve set the record for longest “5-hours” ever.
If you decide to take out the garter rows, I wonder if going to a smaller needle would help? I don’t remember the curl being a problem but I may have just smoothed it out and called it done!
The pattern is just called eyelet yoke sweater and I probably picked it up from Pinterest…ugly picture but darling when knit…one of the reasons I picked it was because it calls for (or at least I am using) #4 needles…101/2 needles are uncomfortable in my hands so I avoid them…and I have a set of the Addi Flexi-flip …lovely three very short #4 needles with which to knit those blasted little sleeves in the round…no more double points for me…but at $25 a set knitting on 4s will have to do me…for a while at least
Yes, I get it. The other possibility is to decrease sts a bit when you get to the row before the garter border. Maybe 4-5sts.
Those Addi needles are expensive but really nice. They’re my favorite.
I’m going to try the decrease trick…for some reason that sounds right…will be a few days before I get back to this…the world calls…I really appreciate all this conversation…thanks
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