Sparkly Pom-Pom Scarf

[dancechica]

This is my first project with cables!  I am really happy with how it turned out.  Cables are not nearly as scary as I thought they would be.  The only thing is, my scarf curls like crazy on the edges.  I tried blocking it and it helped a little.  I don't really mind cause it's not that noticeable when I am wearing it.





Any suggestions?

[dragonmama]

I'm no good with your problem but that is a really adorable scarf!

[NeZHaX]

That's like THE perfect scarf. Makes me wish I could knit more than just a rectangle... hehe. Any chance you could post how you made it? :D

[mommycrochets]

You scarf turned out very nice. Looks warm and cozy.

[lizafer06]

I'm not sure and I could be wrong, but I think knitters often put some kind of border on things to help with the curling. You might want to try looking it up...

On another note, that scarf is absolutely gorgeous! Did you make the pattern up? Would you mind sharing it or telling us where you found it?

[dancechica]

Thanks guys! I did not make the cable pattern up, I used this one: http://www.knittingonthenet.com/patterns/scarfcable.htm  because I thought the cable was really beautiful.  I modified the pattern a little bit because I made it thinner and I added the pom-poms.

And NeZHaX,  I heard you can do cables with crochet!  Basically all I did to make it was do a skinny-ish cabled scarf, not too long, and then added two pom-poms on each end.  I am envisioning a crochet version

[PUFFYsanjo]

That is beautifully made. I am impressed. I've tried cables once before, just to try them out, and it took a lot of attention to keep track of the times to slip the stitches. I ended up with different length cables.

The reason why your knitting is curling is because stockinette stitch curls at the edges, which is why the stitch is great for clothing that wraps around the body. To prevent this from happening, you could knit a garter stitch border around your scarf to stabilize it. Garter stitch is when you knit a row, turn your knitting, and knit again, and continually knitting this way. To do the garter stitch border, knit the first few rows, then your next row, do an inch of garter stitch, then your stockinette stitch for a while, then finish the row by doing the same amount of garter stitch like the beginning of the row. Here's an example of a square that has 12 stitches:

Row 1 knit 12.
Row 2 knit 12.    } These three rows are garter stitch
Row 3 knit 12.
Row 4 knit 3, knit 6, knit 3
Row 5 knit 3, purl 6, knit 3
Row 6 knit 3, knit 6, knit 3
Row 7 knit 3, purl 6, knit 3     }These 8 rows are your stockinette stitch with garter stitch on either
Row 8 knit 3, knit 6, knit 3       side.
Row 9 knit 3, purl 6, knit 3
Row 10 knit 3, knit 6, knit 3
Row 11 knit 3, purl 6, knit 3
Row 12 knit 12.
Row 13 knit 12.    } These three rows are garter stitch
Row 14 knit 12.

Another way to stop the curling is to knit your scarf again so that you have two rectangles of knitting, then sew these two rectangles together with the wrong sides together. Since your scarf curls, putting the two rectangles that both curl should cancel the curling. I would recommend this method. This way, you have your beautiful cables on the front and back of your scarf. Then after you put the two together, you can add your pom poms.

Sorry if this was really long and/or confusing! Let me know if there's something you don't understand. I want to get a digital camera sometime soon, so I could just post photos to illustrate my directions. Good luck!