Ok. Here’s my problem. I want to get started on the Lover’s Knot Afghan from the Lion Brand website. The thing is, I don’t want to use fisherman’s wool. I’ve used it for a sweater that turned out great, but I want this blanket to be really soft and cozy. So, I would like to use Lion Brand Hometown USA instead. Don’t worry, I don’t care about gauge at all, I’m worry about the edges. I’ve had that problem where if you don’t have the correct border and you start doing cables, the edge ends up all crinkled instead of a normal, flat edge. I hope that makes sense. My question is, what can I do to prevent that? Do I simply make the border thicker? Notice that this pattern barely has a border to it. Is there a handy trick out there that I’ve never heard of? Or maybe, what type of border prevents that crinkling the best? Any suggestions would be highly appreciated, don’t worry, I am willing to change up the pattern as much as I need to. I hope someone can help me!
Welcome to KH. I don’t see that changing the yarn should have any real impact on how the border behaves. It has a 5 st garter edge included. If you’re concerned that it will not be enough you could just do a wider garter edge. If you’re concerned about the edge stitches themselves you could go for a slipped edge stitch. There are instructions, tutorials, and videos for doing different kinds of edge stitches. HTH It sounds like it will be lovely.
Thanks for the help! Just for further explanation, here are a couple pictures of what i mean by a crinkled edge 
Here’s the link to the pattern: http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/60704AD.html
I have to leave you to someone more knowledgeable now. I thought you meant the side border. I have no idea what will take care of the problem on the bottom edge. Acrylic won’t really block, blocking might fix it on wool.
Welcome to the forum!
Since the cable crosses begin with the 2nd or row 4, depending on the cable pattern, it will give a bit of a ripple to the top and bottom edges. You could add a garter stitch border of 5-7 rows after the cast on and again before the bind off to minimize the ripple.
The size and weight of the afghan will also tend to keep this kind of ripple to a minimum.
Good luck with it. It’s a gorgeous pattern and a lovely project. It’d be great to see a photo of the work, too, if you’d like to post one.
It’s called cable flare and it happens because the gauge of the border is different then the cables.
Thank you so much! I’ll be sure to post a picture when its all done!
I would just go ahead and use the yarn you’re planning on. Once you add fringe or tassles, I don’t think the “wrinkled” edge will be as noticeable!!!
ymmv,
knitcindy