:knitting:
I have been knitting a couple of years and have made mainly scarves. I have never had this problem before but all of a sudden it has happened twice.
I recently did a scarf with knit one row, purl one row, etc. and the edges are curling. Does anyone know why and what I am doing wrong all of a sudden? Also, does anyone know how to fix the scarve now that it is done?
Thank you for your time in advance,
Do you mean kpkp ribbing or knit one row, purl one row?
knit one row purl one row
That is stocking stitch, see the sticky at the top of the How to page.
http://forum.knittinghelp.com/t/faq-is-your-stockinette-curling-heres-the-solution?t=32810
Stockinette always curls. That’s it’s job. Ya need to edge it with ribbing, garter stitch, or some other stitch pattern that combines knits and purls to create a flat material.
Thanks for your help but if curling is a common occurance why then are there so many patterns with stockintte stich ony and no fixes?
For sweaters it doesn’t matter, they’ll be seamed up and won’t curl at the edges. Same for hats, they’re usually knit in a tube.
Yeah, stockinette kinda exits to make a knitters life heck. It’s like “Hey, look at this pretty stitch! It’s easy to do, looks very lovely, is simple yet not boring… haha PHYCHE! It rolls on the edges! It never lies flat, no matter how much you block it! Mwahahahaha…ha…”
Or something like that XP Yeah, it really stinks. Even when you line it with garter stitch or something, it still kind of rolls a little bit (but not as bad). It’s way annoying, but what can you do?
You will generally see stockinette with a border of some sort, ribbing on sweaters, garter stitch, seed stitch, moss stitch. Occasionally I see a pattern that uses the curling edge as a design feature as for a neckline on a sweater.
I know how you feel. I went by the pattern for a scarf for a teddy bear. Ended up with a tube!!
Probably because the stitch is easy, and it is one of the softest knitting stitches! I like to use it with a garter border. (I like the way the garter looks when it is for accent only)
and experienced knitters know ‘tricks’
like:
1 make scarf double wide. finish, block, fold in half (lengthwise, so its half as wide. seam and make a double thick (2 sided scarf)
or
knit in simple double knitting
(cast on even #
every row: K1, S1 (repeat across row)
(again a double sides (double thick) scarf
or
knit scarf in round (again double sided, double thick scarf)
or
work in 1 x 1 ribbing (and make a thick scarf, that looks like stocking knit (and is almost as thick as a double layer scarf!
there are other options… USE the curl.
In Scarf Style (Pam Allen editor) Amanda Brown has a stocking knit scarf (Ruffle) that USES the natural curl of stocking knit to make a curled/(rolled over) edge on a ruffle scarf)
usually the curling is on at the very edges, so for large pieces isnt such a big problem, as it won’t go into a tube.
stockinette is used becasue it is fairly easy to acheiev, and produces a nice fairly plain smooth (particularly on the ‘v’ or right side) fabric. because of the simplicity of how it looks it is very usfull for setting off more complex design feature, such as clever shaping, cables, areas of a pattern stitch (a pattern all over a sweater might look to fussy, but a band of it in a field of plain stst can look fab), or to show off a variegated yarn, which might look to fussy with or hide a pattern stitch.
when knit in the round, you only have the curling at either end of the tube, and this can either be used to effect, or countered with another stitch such as the ribber cuffs ona sweater sleeve.