Knitting a Border on an Afghan

Knitting a border on your afghan frames your work securely and beautifully.

A border on an afghan helps frame your work and pulls the sewn-together squares of pieced afghans into a cohesive whole. Afghan borders can be straight, joining at right angles in the corners, or mitered, joining at an angle in the corners. They can use a yarn that matches or contrasts with the colors used in your afghan. While you can knit a border separately and sew it on, picking up stitches and knitting the border on creates a secure join, ensures that your border is long enough, and saves time.

Things You'll Need

• Circular knitting needle
• Yarn
• Scissors
• Yarn needle

Instructions

1. Select a circular needle at least as long as one side of your afghan. Select a yarn in the same weight and fiber as the main yarn for the afghan. Decide if you want a straight or mitered border.

2. Examine one side of your afghan. If you see cast on, bind off, or slipped stitch edges, pick up and knit. Insert your needle into the space below the edge, wrap your working yarn around the needle, then pull the yarn loop back through the space. Repeat for every stitch along that edge.

3. Pick up stitches along garter edges where you see purl bumps. Skip the first stitch and insert your needle into the purl bump nearest the edge. Avoid the tighter, slightly diagonal bump at the very end. Repeat for every purl bump along that edge.

4. Knit in garter stitch or seed stitch until the border is as wide as you desire. For mitered borders, increase one stitch in each row after the first row. Note the number of rows knitted for that side. Bind off.

5. Pick up or pick up and knit starting at the edges of the side of the border you just knit, then pick up or pick up and knit the side of the afghan. Knit until the border is the same width as the previous side. Repeat for all sides.

6. Cut the yarn and weave in the yarn ends.

Tips & Warnings

• Garter stitch consists of knitting every stitch of every row when knitting flat pieces. Seed stitch consists of alternating knit and purl stitches in each column of knitting.

• Avoid using stockinette stitch (alternating rows of knitting and purling) for a border. The border will curl.

References

• Yarn Harlot: Pick-up Lines
• Knit Picks: Picking Up Stitches