Hi everyone,
Okay, how psyched am I to see that you've chosen my design for your first knitalong? SO psyched!
Although I do my best to regularly visit this blog, feel free to drop me a line if you have questions.
One question that always came up during the first wave of Tivolis in the summer was how to stop the curling of the edges. I thought I would write a little blog post to address this, so that everyone sees the answer.
First, you can add a border, like the picots already written into the design! If you visit the gallery you will see that knitters are a creative bunch, and have added all kinds of borders - ribbing, garter stitch, seed stitch, etc. with the same idea in mind
If you prefer the straight lines of the t-shirt without any border, I don't blame you :). To keep your edges from curling, I'd like to introduce you to your new best friend - the iron. As long as you're using pretty standard yarn, cotton or wool or linen or some combination thereof, you can gently iron the fabric and reverse the curl. The way I usually do this is to take a very thin sheet of fabric (I use an old pillowcase), wet it, and then wring it out. Place the damp material on top of your curled Picovoli edges, and iron through it on a med/high setting, with high steam.
I know it sounds crazy... but it has worked every single time, I promise.
The only time I would worry about setting a hot iron to your handknit is if you have any synthetic content in your yarn - polyester, nylon, etc. Then, please, test on a swatch first to make sure the yarn won't melt.
And let me be explicit - I have ironed Shine, and I have ironed Cathay without any ill effects.
As an additional hint I'd like to let you know that I iron the seams of all my handknit sweaters. It streamlines the fabric, takes away some of the bulk that seams have, and instantly makes me look 10 pounds lighter. I'm just sayin' :) :).
As you finish your Picovolis, feel free to drop me a line to be included in the gallery!
Happy knitting, happy Picovolis!
Grumperina
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2 comments:
This is so incredibly helpful Kathy! Thanks!
yes, thanks for the info! It was actually what I had planned to do, because I wanted to do the straight edge. although now I am kinda liking the picot edge!
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