Tuesday Tip – Better Bind Off

Tuesday Tip – Better Bind Off

Tuesday Tip copyWhen Bad bind offs happen to good people.

When you bind off do you get something that looks like a noose at the end of your knitting? Does it bug you as much as it does me?

Better Bind Off

First let’s take a look at what a regular bind off leaves you with:

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Not an enjoyable edge!

Ah, but to paraphrase Jason Robert Brown’s Last Five Years, we can do better than that!

 

Bind off until there's one stitch left
1) Bind off until there’s one stitch left
Pass that last unworked stitch back to the right needle
2) Pass that last un-worked stitch back to the right needle
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3 – With tip of left needle, pick up the left (back) loop of the row below the un-worked stitch, inserting needle back to front
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4 – Move the un-worked stitch back to the left needle
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5 – Knit the last stitch and the leg of the row below together like you were doing a k2tog
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6 – This will move the slack of that sloppy last stitch to the back of your work. Similar to hiding a wrap in short rows.
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Ta Da! After you BO the last (now newly) neatened stitch this is what your edge looks like

For other knitting tips from Patty’s Knitting Bag of tricks you can learn 2 1/2 hours worth on my DVD

Interweave Knitting Bag of Tricks

Also available as a digital download

Or you can join me live in class! Click here for my live teaching schedule

To read past Tuesday tips, just click on the Tutorial category of the blog (or here I did it for you!)

If you have a “is there a better way to do that”, or “how do you do that” question, leave me a comment, and I’ll add it to the Tuesday Tip list!

 

Check Out These 4 Best New Knitting Books of 2025 from My Talented Friends (Perfect Gifts!)

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