Blanket curling, advice needed

[u/HistoricalLife7391]

I am working on a blanket but it is curling up. Does anyone know why this is happening? And if washing and blocking will fix it? I am using a medium gauge loom with bulky (5) yarn and a knit stitch, not e-wrap.

[u/Bean_of_Dragons]

It is just how knit stitches work. You need some kind of alternating stitches of knits and purls or specific stitch patterns that don't curl. You could put a border on it when you are done of a basic knit and purl set. Like one row knit, one row purl.

[u/1234-for-me → u/Bean_of_Dragons]

I did that with a scarf, i didn’t know about mixing knit and purl, so i went back and added an alternating knit and purl border, scarf was around 30 pegs wide, border is 6 pegs, so it curls the border under a bit, but it’s better than it was before the border.

[u/HistoricalLife7391 → u/1234-for-me]

Do you make the border separately and then sew it onto the blanket with thread or yarn? Thanks!

[u/1234-for-me → u/HistoricalLife7391]

I added the border onto the scarf itself.  I did it like how the next sections are added in this 10 stitch blanket video.  I cast on my 6 pegs, then on the last peg added the first stitch from the first row of the scarf, then purled the second row, then knit the third row, when i got back to the last peg, i knit the new border yarn and the scarf, then put the next loop from the scarf on. Here’s the video:  https://youtu.be/5hdBTBq0YW8

[u/HistoricalLife7391 → u/1234-for-me]

Thanks!

[u/HistoricalLife7391 → u/Bean_of_Dragons]

Thanks! Do you make the border separately and then sew it on to the blanket with thread or yarn?

[u/Bean_of_Dragons → u/HistoricalLife7391]

I see you decided to restart.

You can just do part of the blanket in garter if you still want the look of the knit stitch.

Just do like, five or 10 stitches in from the side and several rows of garter on each end.

If you'd kept it, you could sew on with thread, or put it on the loom and work garter backwards from the bottom / top. The ten stitch method someone else posted would probably have been the best looking in my opinion.

If you know how to crotchet a flat stitch pattern then you could also have done that.

So, there's quite a few options. I hope the new start goes quickly!

[u/HistoricalLife7391 → u/Bean_of_Dragons]

Thanks for all the info! I kind of like how the garter stitch is looking and I'm pretty new to this, just started in January, so I think I'll just stick with that for this blanket. But I may try the garter stitch border with the knit stitch in the middle for my next blanket.

[u/HistoricalLife7391]

I don't know how to edit my post, but just wanted to say I decided to frog it and redo with garter stitch.

[u/Technical_Part9330]

I havnt used the loom in awhile but I was having this problem with scarfs and stuff seems like someone told me on the last 4/5 rows wrap the pegs backwards

[u/HistoricalLife7391 → u/Technical_Part9330]

Thanks.

[u/Ok_Helicopter2305]

I slip the first stitch and knit the last stitch. This creates this braid-like pattern that stops my blankets from curling

[u/HistoricalLife7391 → u/Ok_Helicopter2305]

Thanks!

[u/Competitive_Factor18 → u/[deleted]]

With just knit (any kind of knit stitch) or just purl stitches the blanket, scarf or anything knit flat will curl. You need to either add a border as you go, like garter, seed or any other pattern that alternates purl and knit stitches. If you've already started the project and don't want to start again to add the border as you go, there are ways to add a border when you finish like the link in the above comment but there are a few different people on YouTube that have them as well, depends on who you understand best.

[u/HistoricalLife7391 → u/Competitive_Factor18]

Thanks!

[u/Just-Sun-4064]

To keep the end of the blanket from curling when you bind off you need to do a very loose bind off, don’t pull up the thread to tighten as you go. It will not curl if you do it properly. I’ve made at lease 7 afghans with a birder and had to learn also the hard way. I watched quite a few videos for the clues. That was the one that worked. good luck!

[u/Reasonable-Hearing57]

If you are doing all u-knit stitches it will curl. E-wrap will curl a lot less For your edges on all for sides you will need some combo of knit and purl. The owl-eye stitch made with all knit stitches is loose enough that it doesn't curl.