How to Connect Edging to a Knitted Blanket

Adding a knit border holds a blanket's shape and prevents curled edges.

Knit blankets are warm and soft, but knitting creates a fabric that often curls at the edges and that can stretch unevenly and become shapeless. Adding an edging will eliminate that problem. Satin-looking cloth is often seen on blankets, but because cloth doesn’t stretch, it doesn’t work well on knit blankets. Instead, a garter-stitch knit edging added to the top and bottom of the blanket will prevent the ends of the blanket from rolling yet will stretch with the blanket and prevent shapelessness.

Things You'll Need

• Yarn
• Knitting needles
• Scissors
• Tapestry needle

Instructions

1. Cast on 1 1/2 inches worth of stitches.

2. Hold the top of the knit blanket with the right side facing you. Start at the top right corner and insert the knitting needle that holds the cast-on stitches into the first stitch on the right-hand corner of the blanket. The stitch has two strands on top that look like a V. Insert the knitting needle under both strands. Turn the work.

3. Knit together the loops from the blanket and the first cast-on stitch. This will connect the edging to the blanket. Continue to knit across all cast-on stitches. Turn the work.

4. Knit all stitches and after knitting the last stitch, insert the knitting needle that holds the edging into the stitch on the blanket immediately to the left of the stitch you just joined to the edging. Insert the needle under the two strands that form a V. Turn the work.

5. Continue to follow Steps 3 and 4 onto every stitch on the top edge of the blanket. When you insert the knitting needle into the last stitch on the top of the blanket, cut the yarn, leaving a short tail. Put the yarn on a tapestry needle, knot the yarn and use the needle to weave the tail into the blanket so it isn’t visible.

6. Flip the blanket to the bottom edge and follow the instructions for Steps 1 through 5, adding the garter stitch border to the bottom of the blanket.

Tips & Warnings

• Use yarn and knitting needles for the edging that are the same weight and size as used for the blanket.

• If you want a border wider than 1 1/2 inches, cast on more stitches. Cast on fewer stitches if you prefer a narrower border.

• To add edges to all four sides of the blanket, do not stop, cut and knot the yarn at the end of the top row. Instead, continue to knit as directed all the way around the blanket. At each corner, knit three times into the blanket’s corner stitch so that the edging will lay flat.