Around the beginning of the year I joined a Facebook group for beginner knitters, both because I thought I could help people and because I wanted to see what kinds of questions people were asking so I could produce posts around them.
One of the biggest questions a lot of new knitters have is around stockinette stitch (aka knit one row, purl one row). First they want to know what they’re doing wrong that causes it to curl, and then how to fix it.
The first part of the answer is that you’re not doing anything wrong. I have read that stockinette stitch curls because of the difference in size between knit stitches and purl stitches (knit stitches are shorter and narrower) or because of a difference in tension between knit stitches and purl stitches when you work them.
That doesn’t account for why stockinette still curls when you work it in the round, though, so I can’t say that’s 100 percent the reason, but the result is the same regardless. Stockientte stitch tends to curl to the knit side on the cast on and bind off edges an toward the purl side on the sides.
So how do you stop it? One way is to add a border that will help to keep the edges flat. Ribbing is commonly used for this purpose on the edges of hats, socks and sweaters, but you can also use garter stitch or any combination of knit and purl stitches that’s relatively balanced (such as moss stitch or seed stitch).
You can also add a hem to a project, which helps weigh down the edge and can keep it from curling. Nimble Needles shows one way to do that by sort of picking up stitches along the back of the work and knitting them together with the live stitches, but you can also do this by knitting an inch or so, working a row of purls on the knit side and then knitting on. When you’re finished with the project you can fold it along that purl row and sew the hem down along the back.
Or you can use a purl row to stop the edge from curling beyond that point and use the rolled hem as a style feature.
Do you have any tips for reducing curl or working with the curl in stockinette stitch? I’d love to hear them!
[Photo: Nimble Needles]
