curling?

[AnnaBear19]

totally newbie question ,ok so I was told when the item you are knitting curls at the edges, you are knitting to tight. I dont think thats right, because my knitting is not tight as far as I know. I'm doing a baby blanket and the first 8 rows are knit, and it curls and makes the blanket look horrible. same with the all the edges what am i doing wrong? or is this a common problem?

[winterblues]

Curling happens when you knit in stockinette stitch no matter what and not just because you knit too tight.
The only way around this is to knit in a border of purl or garter stitch. You can either knit the purl or garter stitch into the knitting itself (at the edges), or knit a seperate border, then sew it on.

Hope that helps.

[cftwo]

when you say "the first 8 rows are knit" do you mean you've just completed 8 rows, or you have 8 rows of knitting (but no purling)? If you're doing 1 row of knit and 1 row of purl, you'll have curling - that's just the nature of that kind of pattern. (Have you seen hats with curled brims? They do that by knitting a row and purling a row (stockinette stitch).) If you do every row knit, you shouldn't have a curling problem. Even if you knit tightly.

For only 8 rows, I'd be tempted to frog it all out and start over.

Options:
Try this pattern. Knit every row for 6 rows.
Row 7: Knit across.
Row 8: Knit 5, purl to last 5 stitches, knit last 5 stitches.
Last 6 rows of blanket: Knit across.

Or, if you don't want to do a border, try a ribbed blanket:
Cast on stitches in an odd multiple of 3 (maybe 3x17 or 3x23 or 3x31 - whatever gives you the width you want).
Row 1: Knit 3, purl 3 (repeat across, ending with a knit 3)
Row 2: Purl 3, knit 3 (repeat across, ending with a purl 3)
Repeat rows 1 and 2 until blanket is the size you want.

Note: with the ribbed blanket, cast on a bit more than you think you'll need, because ribbing is narrower than you expect.

[AnnaBear19]

No i have a lot done, and i really rather not stop now. but i have messed up on a few spots but this is still very important for me to finish because i never finish my projects. I'll post pictures as soon as I figure out how. It's basicly the first pattern you suggested.

[AnnaBear19]

the second and third pic show the curling

[suzeeq]

You have stockinette st at the very edge, that's why it curls. If it's a blockable fiber (some sort of wool) it may help, but it looks like acrylic, so you'll have to put a border around it of either single crochet, or pick up stitches and knit a couple rounds of garter stitch. Or it might be easier to take it out and start over again, knitting 6-8 rows (garter stitch) then start the stockinette, leaving 3-4 sts on each end in garter.

[cftwo]

Sue is right - it's the pattern you're knitting, not your knitting itself. In my opinion, the simplest easiest way to deal with the problem is to tell everyone that's the way it's supposed to be. It looks like only the edges will have that problem. Just like a curly brimmed hat does that, call this a curly-edged blanket. Sue's options would work if you want to flatten it out.

[AnnaBear19]

alrighty, thanks! much appreciated