I have not been knitting for very long. I am currently working on a scarf for my Mom and the longer the scarf gets it is rolling in towards the center. Am I knitting too tightly?

A couple of questions; first, when you say it's "rolling in", do you mean that the edges are curling up? Are you knitting entirely in stockinette stitch? If so, that would be why it is curling up. If you are knitting in some other pattern stitch, then more information is needed.
I'm wondering also what size needles and yarn you are using. Knitting tightly is kind of a relative term. What I might consider tight, you might see as just right. So, unless the piece is as stiff as a board....

Hi Carmen,

If you are knitting the scarf in stockinette alone it will roll in towards the back from the sides and start looking like a tube as you go along. This can be stopped by adding some sort of knit purl combination for about an inch on each side, like either garter stitch or seed stitch to name two. Also, scarves worked with some sort of design across the work that involves knits and purls will also help to stop that curling in from the edge.

Straight stockinette will curl towards the front from the top and bottom and towards the back from the sides.

Hope this helps some.

What if I am almost finished? Is there anything I can do like ironing or wetting and pinning to keep it's shape?

Carmen

You can block it as you describe. But bear in mind that whenever it's washed you'll need to reblock it.

It may not be of great comfort to you right now, but you should know that about 99% of novice knitters have been through the same experience. It seems to be part of the learning process. Consider yourself initiated into the R.S. (Rolling Stockinette) Society.

As for the blocking, it depends of what yarn you are using. Good wool can take some steam blocking,and it may help - somewhat. Acrylics do not block well. Sorry...

Strikker

What if it is Lion Brand Lion Suede?

My personal experience with LB Suede is not good. IMHO, it has very little elasticity, and will not take blocking. I am basing this on a vest I made for our granddaughter who had fallen in love with one of the variegated colors of Suede. She got her vest - I swore "never again".

But other knitters might have different experiences, although I do not think you will be able to block this yarn to the flatness you want.

Strikker

Ok, thanks.

I agree with Strikker that you are not alone in this problem, we have all been there before. One of the things I have done in the past which helped some was to pick up stitches along the sides and knit on a border, it probably needs to be at least an inch wide to help stop the rolling. Before you do any picking up of stitches along your scarf though, you might want to make a little practice swatch of the same width as your scarf and about 4-6 inches long. That should be long enough to allow the same rolling in, and then you can pick up stitches along the edge of that and knit a border and see if it helps. You could do a few rows of garter stitch as a trial. If you do decide to do this, you will need to pick up about 3 stitches for every 4 rows in order to keep the border flat with the scarf.

Just a thought.

Suzanne

P.S.

If you really got into this, there are all kinds of pretty borders that can be knitted on that would really make your scarf special.

Hi,

Carmen you are getting lots of advice from folks here. I don't want to overwhelm you. I would suggest what is called an icord. That has nothing to do with an ipod, iphone or i anything from mac. I am not familiar with the yarn you are working with but trust stikker on this. Oh and icord stands for idiot cord. Don't take that personal it is just what it is called.

If you go to youtube and look up icord I am sure you may find a clip on this technique. You would end up knitting a simple border around your scarf and then it would not curl. You would need double ended needles to do this.

The other choice that would work would be a crochet border. I don't crochet so I am not going to stand 100% behind this suggestion.

Also you should go to www.ravelry.com and join up there as you might like the information and help there as well.

Best of luck you have done what all of us have done at some point in time!

I also have had problems with LB Suede. It can be a pain in the rear. I also agree that your best bet, if you don't want to rip it out and start over, is to add an edging. I almost always use one with at least 8 sts to combat that tunnel effect. You can find a lot of them that can either be knitted onto your scarf by picking up sts all around it or just along the sides, or just knit and then sewn on.
Believe me, when I first started I had quite a few before someone let me know what was causing it so had to go back and put the edgings on them all.
It worked, but taught me to do it when I made them in the first place. Good luck and let us know how it works out for you.

I just bought a bunch of that Lion Brand Suede, because of the yummy colors and the special 1/2 price sale, for around the house socks for my roommate. Upon careful reading of the label (at home of course) I found it is 100% polyester. But it feels yummy knit up tight on #6 needles. When I blocked my swatch, it softened up, but didn't really change shape appreciably.

As far as the rolling scarf, I find that you can knit any border onto a scarf like that, either intergrated or applied, it will still rooooll, except for the edges. My advice is to embrace reality, maybe even sew the edges together to make a controlled tube. These round scarves are very fashionable here in cold new england, you fold then in half and put both ends thru the loop. Snug up around your neck.

Keep knitting, it gets more intuitive the more you do. Try a checkerboard next, alternating squares of knit and purl. I guarentee it will NOT roll.