How to Bind Off
After posting my How to Cast On tutorial, a few people asked for a similar demonstration of binding off, another of those basic techniques that are sometimes hard to learn from books or remember from one project to the next once you’ve actually mastered them. I thought I’d wait until I had a project ready to bind off, rather than creating a swatch to work with, mainly because I don’t have that kind of time. Anyway, I hope this little how-to helps clear things up. I’ve even included a one-minute video at the end of this post, for anyone who really needs to see the details in action (as I usually do).
So, without further ado, here’s how to do it:
- Knit the first stitch on the row as you normally would. We’ll call this Stitch 1.
- Knit the second stitch as you normally would. We’ll call this Stitch 2.
- Insert your left needle through the front of Stitch 1 on the right needle.
- Drag Stitch 1 over Stitch 2.
- Pull Stitch 1 completely off the needle, leaving Stitch 2 on the needle.
- Stitch 2 remains on the right needle, and you’ve just bound off your first stitch (Stitch 1). Rename the remaining stitch (Stitch 2) to Stitch 1 and repeat steps 2-5 until you reach the end of the row.
When just one stitch remains on your right needle, simply snip off your yarn, leaving about 5 inches of tail to pull through the opening of that last stitch and draw it tight. You’ll be left with a nice, finished edge that looks something like this:
And that’s it. Here’s that video I promised, which will take you less time to watch than it’s taken for you to read this post:
moody knitter 8:42 am on April 10, 2007 Permalink | Log in to Reply
nice photos very clear and informative bravo 🙂
Katrina 9:57 am on April 10, 2007 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for the very clear and easy to follow information. =D The video was especially helpful for me.
meiyi 3:33 am on May 5, 2007 Permalink | Log in to Reply
thanks so much for the video!! It was very clear and helpful!
YAY!!
DARLINE 8:28 pm on June 26, 2007 Permalink | Log in to Reply
HI
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE HELP THE VIDEO WAS GREAT!!!!
THANKS AGAIN
DARLINE
Lisa 11:02 pm on November 23, 2007 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for the very clear directions and the video.You make it so easy as I am a beginner knitter 🙂
Cool How To Knit images | Knitting For Beginners 4:17 pm on July 1, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
[…] How to Bind Off Image by Brian Sawyer The complete 1-minute video supplement to my little tutorial on how to bind off […]