How did the yarn know?

[Kabes]

I want to make felted wine bottle cozies and I decided to do a practice run on the bottom since it was a stitch I hadn't used before. I just had my first successful test run with dpns today I decided to do it flat. So I followed the directions complete with lots of kfb and finished the bottom portion of the directions then cast off. As I did, the knitting curled into a perfect circle so I was wondering: How did the yarn know?

[Think of Winter]

I can't quite picture what you did. If it was stockinette, then that's totally normal for it to curl. Increases also tend to tug your fabric in a certain direction. So the yarn didn't know, but the pattern was written to produce a certain shape.

[Kabes]

The pattern called for CO 5 stitches on dpns, on the first row you kfb all stitches to increase to 10. On the second row you knit all, then on the third row you kfb all stitches so you would increase to 10. Then knit all, then knit 1, kfb increasing to 30. On the sixth row you knit all then on 7 you did the final increase by knitting 2, kfb1 giving you a totaly of 40 stitches.

Instead of CO to dpns I CO to a straight needle (not a circ) I expected to get a (oh shoot, my geometry terms fail me) anyway. . . .I didn't expect it to curl into circle. It was very cool to watch. I know the yarn didn't really "know" but it was an unexpected surprise for me!

[Think of Winter]

I think I get it. To make the circular bottom, you were supposed to knit in the round. Instead of joining the beginning to the end, you just knit it flat. Your pattern was designed to form a circle, so even if it's not joined, it should still be shaped like a circle. Voila!