Knitting Technique: Chain Selvedges

The Noro Scarf is finished and somewhere along the way I learned a new way of knitting a chain selvedge. When I first started knitting this scarf I was not pleased with the way the selvedge was coming out. Neither side was uniform. It looked a bit wonky.

So, I set out to ask everyone I saw knitting the scarf if they were having similar problems and received several different suggestions. Then, I went to the Brooklyntwed Ravelry group and read several other opinions about the wonky selvedge edges. Wondering why so many people had varying techniques to achieve the same result of a uniform selvedge edge, I pulled out my trusty knitting reference books. I read everything I could find on chain selvedges.

In these books I learned that there are several ways of obtaining the same result. The one that worked like a charm for me was the following method:

• Right-side rows: slip knitwise first and last stitches
  
• Wrong-side rows: purl first and last stitches.

I block my scarves by putting them in a zippered sock bag and washing them in cold water on the delicate cycle of my washing machine. If I have Eucalin around, I use it but if I don't have any I use Woolite. Then I put my puzzle foam pieces together for the length I need (I love these things) and pin them to the shape and length I want.

Both scarves are for my newlyweds and are on their way to Tennessee. By the way, the second scarf is the Yarn Harlot's One Row Scarf made with Malabrigo yarn. It is for my daughter. The Noro scarf is for my new son-in-law. And while I'm giving you all the pertinent facts I might as well tell you that my very favorite needles for knitting scarves are the 9" Takumi needles by Clover. I have sizes ranging from US 5-9 and they rest in a jar that one of my daughters decorated when she was a little girl, priceless to me now.