Hi. I’ve been making a blanket from pure mohair. It’s like coconut ice being pink with white stripes in sections. It started out as a babies blanket but it’s really now too large for that but for a girls bed or similar it would be lovely. I can’t crochet and have been thinking of asking someone to machine satin or ribbon on to the edges. I’ll wash whatever I ask her to use and the blanket first and I’ll certainly make up a swatch for her to try first but any tips? It’s not knitted in stockinette and I’ve attached an image to try and show a close up. If I can offer her any suggestions about tension etc that would be useful.
I have thought of leaving the item as is but I think a stronger edging would be nice to have. Comments are welcome.
Hmm… I’ve posted questions before and not a problem but this has failed twice. I’ll leave out the image and perhaps try and put it into a different post.
LOL Not a clue what I am doing wrong. I am browsing and locating the image on my computer and successfully entering that into the filename frame. I have added a quick comment. I have tried submitting without clicking on the “add attachment” button AND clicking on it but no luck. Perhaps it’s the image size?? It’s only a small section of the work but perhaps it’s too big of an image. Oddly on my old PC I could always readily determine the size but I can’t seem to on my Mac with Photoshop. I think anyway if I can just leave the question as is without the image. Just know that there are small ‘holes’ in the knitting work (which the image didn’t really show that well) and small ‘bumps’ (bump meaning a loop of yarn).
crocheting isn’t too hard, and even a small border of single crochet can give a blanket a “finished” look.
If you want to machine sew on the binding, it can be done, but it isn’t easy. it might be easier to hand sew the blanket binding to the work. (but that might take forever!!)
Some sewing machines have a setting for bulky work like knitting. you don’t want the presser foot to get caught in the stitches. Other people have put a piece of tissue paper or wax paper over the knitting part then torn the paper away after sewing.
Blanket binding can be a PITA even for fabric blankets.
RE: the photo- have you tried uploading your pic to photobucket or flickr? I don’t think you can post directly from your home PC hard drive.
My personal preference is not to bind the edges of knit blankets with ribbon or other woven fabric. The firmness of the woven stuff fights with the elasticity of the knitting so you get a flexible, relaxed middle and a tight edge. Given that combination, ripples in the binding are hard to avoid.
If you really want to try it, I would vote with marykz to sew the binding by hand, which would allow you to adjust the tension on a stitch-by-stitch basis. But what a huge, finicky job!
A single crochet edge works better, and it really, truly simple to do. It’s very much like picking up and knitting around the edge, except that it’s easier because you do it with a hooked instrument.
Alternative: pick up and knit a decorative edging (see Nicky Epstein’s
Knitting on the edge). Or embroider a blanket stitch edging if you think it would look right with your pattern stitch.
I only have my images on my home pc and I usually attach them in the exact same way that Susan P. tried to, but mine work. I can only think that the image may have been too big, but I think you get a message at the top of the page telling you if there has been an error with posting it due to size (can’t really remember though - I photoshop them down to 250px x whatever they turn out to be when I have ‘constrain proportions’ on)
Hi ladies…thanks for replies! I think in reading what you’ve said I’ll not try a satin or material edge but I honestly have never got the ‘hang’ at all of crochet and I would hate to unnecessarily fiddle with something that’s taken so long to complete. I think I’ll just locate a crochet person through a local store, make up a swatch, and see what edging they can do and go with that idea. I realised in the end it’s not pure mohair, it is about 78% mohair and then wool and a little nylon.
Yes, I never received any error message so not sure what the problem is. I have a Mac system, would that make a difference? I have begun to upload images onto flickr and so will post that when done. I don’t have a digital camera and so need to wait until my son is around (he lives at distance) to take some photos.
By the way, I’ve never thought of crochet before as just knitting with one needle; that may help me learn as I’d like to. I’ve been shown and just…flop but I should try and try again!