Stitches

How can I stop my knitting curling?

My knitting always curls at the edges, even when knitting garter stitch, and no matter what yarn I am using (whether wool, acrylic or another). I have tried casting on more loosely, but with no difference. I always block woollen pieces, which helps, but not with acrylic. Apart from crocheting the edges, which is good but not suitable for everything I make, is there another way to get my knitting to lie flat by changing the way I knit?

Public Comments

1. I heard that the book "Knitting for Dummies" suggests knitting the first two or three stitches of every purl row to create a selvege edge that will prevent curling. I haven't tried that myself so I can't verfy if it works, but I figure it's worth a try.
2. Using doubled yarn for cast on and then making selvedge edge, helps some. But mostly knitted and afghan stitch crocheted things just do curl! Measure out twice the amount for the cast on and do it as usual, it will be heavier, and if this is a scarf, much better for putting on the fringes. add 2 stitches to the pattern, knit the first, knit the second slip second over first, yarn over, and do the last two the same way. This will give you a heavier side edge. If this is in a garment, don't worry if it curls. When putting it together, we usually do ribbing on the edges, then it won't curl.
3. After decades of knitting and being bothered by the exact same problem I came across a solution. It won't work with a delicate pattern ..but it's good for basic projects. I follow a rib pattern I worked with a hat, and it's very simple. Once you cast on, knit-1, Purl-1......the first row. Then knit the next row. Then again Knit-1, Purl-1, next row knit. I do this maybe 8 times depending on the weight of yarn and needle size. Works beautifully for scarfs, and small cotton finger towels, place mats etc. If you're doing something like a baby's blanket you can continue the pattern with a few (8-10) stitches on both edges and it will always lay flat. You might want to use a marker with the larger projects. The only thing I can add to this is it's good to be working with an even amount of cast on stitches. You don't have to but it looks nicer.
4. I have found that blocking is the way to go. I know that it can be frustrating to see the work curl, but most of the groups and blogs that I go to say the same thing. Block it out.
5. There are a couple of different tricks out there, but I find that slipping the first stitch of every row as if to purl and then knitting the last stitch through the back loop on every row does help. Has the added bonus of making it very easy to pick up stitches if you are adding a border or sew together for items such as sweaters.
6. Purl. Yarn is somewhat elastic. When something is knit only, the elasticity is in one direction, so it curls. Purling changes the elasticity in the opposite direction, and thus flattens the knit. So if you purl an equal amount to knitting, the two should balance out. That is why edges are sometimes done in a rib knit.