curling scarf

[Lizzie]

Hi,
I am a 3 week new knitter. I am in the middle of making a green and black scarf with 100% acrylic yarn and it is curling in on both sides.
I was trying to figure out how to block it so it would not curl when I finish it, but it looks like if there are no natural fibers blocking wont work.
Is there any thing I can do or should I start again with a yarn with natural fibers?
Thanks,
Lizzie

[knitqueen]

What stitch pattern are you using?? If it's stockinette (knit one row, purl one row) it will curl no matter what. There's not much getting around it unless you put a substantial border around it of a non-curling stitch pattern. Garter Stitch, seed stitch/moss stitch are ones that come to mind that make a good border.

[Lizzie]

Yes, I am knitting a row and purling a row. How would I go about adding a substantial border? I know so little about what I am doing.
Thanks,
Lizzie

[knitqueen]

There are two ways. One is to knit a border on as you are working the scarf. So if you are doing knit one row, purl one row, right from the start you could add something like 5 stitches (entirely depends on how wide your scarf is to begin with) of garter stitch on either side. So you would knit the first and last 5 stitches of EVERY row. That would make a garter stitch border with the rest of the scarf being stockinette.

Or, once the scarf is complete, you could pick up stitches (about 3/4 way down the page that I linked) along the entire length and add a border that way.

Either way, stockinette has a VERY strong tendency to curl, sometimes even with a border added. These are things you can try but there's no guarantee that it is going to work, unfortunately. Also, here is a thread that discusses at length different suggestions that people have for overcoming the problem.