Knitting

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Finishing Workshop: Adding Crochet to Knitting

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crochet border knittingSometimes you just want a little extra edging on a knitting project. Sure, you could pick up stitches around the edge of, say, a sweater, and knit a little lace at the bottom.

But it’s a major pain to knit a border on a large piece of knitting like an afghan (or even a baby blanket) once it’s been knit. (Yes you could do something like applied I-cord or knit the border on as you go, but it’s still not fun.)

An easy solution is to add a crocheted edging. As shown in that tutorial, I usually do single crochet, but once you’ve got a round of single crochet done you can build off into any complicated or simple pattern you like. Crocheting a border is a great way to add a contrasting color, and if you make it big enough it can weigh down stockinette edges and keep them from curling.

If you’re a video person, check out this video on single crochet by Knit Purl Hunter, or check out the Crochet for Knitters series of videos from VeryPink Knits.

Have you ever done crochet with your knitting? I’d love to hear what you did and how it turned out!

Comments

  1. I just finished off a cowl with a crocheted edge, because it was a chevron pattern with the color changes traveling up the side. I may have added too many stitches though, as once it was washed it gave the edge a ripped effect. We’ll see what happens once I block it.

Have you read?

Classic Dishcloth Knitting Patterns

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use. 

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make. 

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!). 

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn. 

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart. 

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern. 

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.