my favorite bind off trick. part 1
One of my favorite tricks for creating a bind off that doesn’t break, actually has nothing to do with the bind off itself.
My favorite trick is to increase my stitch count right before I bind off. This way my bind off involves more stitches than the main body of my shawl.
Because there are more bind off stitches than main body stitches, each bind off stitch has to take up less space than each main body stitch.
For A Shawl Knit Flat
1. Finish your pattern, in the photo I just used a basic stockinette swatch.
2. If you’ve ended with a RS row, work a WS row.
3. To increase: work your border stitches, [yo, k1, yo, k2tog] to the opposite border, work your second border stitches.
4. Work a WS row.
5. Bind off.
FOR A SHAWL KNIT IN THE ROUND
1. Finish your pattern.
2. Knit 1 round.
3. To increase: [yo, k1, yo, k2tog] around.
4. Knit 1 round.
5. Bind off.
WORKING MORE SUBTLE INCREASES
But if you don’t want your increases to be obvious. Or you don’t want to work those extra two WS rows. Or you’re worried about running out of yarn. Or just don’t like the eyelet look. You can use make 1s or knit front and backs instead.
So for a shawl knit flat:
1. Finish your pattern, in the photo I just used a basic stockinette swatch.
2. To increase: work your border stitches, [m1*, k3] to the opposite border, work your second border stitches.
3. Bind off.
For a shawl knit in the round:
1. Finish your pattern.
2. To increase: [m1*, k3] around.
3. Bind off.
*if you prefer knitting into the front and back of the same stitch, replace the m1 with kfb.
I like this trick because it means I can block my shawls like crazy without every feeling like my bind off is going to break, plus the yarn overs make threading blocking wires practically painless, and I think they can add a nice design element to most shawls. For example,
in Tumbling Deco, the yarn overs blended right into the patterning.
and in Anwar I turned this into a design element, by working the final three rounds and the bind off in the main color (as opposed to the contrasting color), which tied the edge of the shawl back to the center of the shawl, and really made the design feel complete.
This trick has you increasing your stitch count by a third and is essentially creating a ruffle at the very edge of your shawl, which then gets blocked away. Increasing your stitch count by a third works great for shawls curved edges, but not so great for shawls with straight edges.
Tomorrow I’ll talk through using this idea on shawls with straight edges, squares, triangles, and the like.
5 tips for working an elastic bind off
“Anwar“
Having a bind off break sounds too horrible for words. Luckily I’ve never had it happen to me.
I use some combination of these tips & tricks with every project I bind off.
1. use a larger needle.
Go up two or three needle sizes for your bind off. So if you’re using a US 5 or 6 for the main body of the shawl, go up to a US 7 or 8 for the bind off.
I don’t use this idea often because I usually don’t want to go find a larger needle, but it’s a sure fire way of getting a looser bind off.
2. use an inherently stretchy bind off.
Some bind offs are naturally stretchier than others, the bind off that most of us learn when we first learn to knit (k2, pass 1st stitch over the 2nd, k1, pass 2nd stitch over 3rd, etc.) is very inelastic. So instead use something that’s more elastic such as Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off, or the Decrease Bind Off.
3. relax.
No seriously, do what you need to do to relax before you start binding off.
Even the stretchiest bind off will loose a lot of it’s elasticity if you work it while stressed out, hunched up and yanking the yarn. Some people say to concentrate on working your bind off loosely, but I think that can easily lead to a sloppy bind off.
So I say just drop your shoulders, get a cup of tea, find a comfy seat and start binding off.
4. if you need to get up, get up.
If you need to pause in the middle of your bind off because something comes up, or you get tired of sitting. PAUSE.
Set your knitting to the side and come back to it when you have more time. It’s better than rushing to finish, because when we rush we tense up, when we tense up our knitting gets tighter, and tighter knitting leads to a more inelastic bind off.
Your knitting isn’t going anywhere, it’ll be there when you get back. (Though if you have a particularly inquisitive pet or child, you may want to hide it in the interim.)
5. increase your stitch count right before you bind off.
This is my favorite trick and I have a couple of upcoming posts about it that lay it out in full and get into the nuances, but basically you place a bunch of evenly spaced increases across your piece, a row or two before binding off.
This means your bind off has more stitches in it than the main body, and so each stitch has to take up less space when you block the piece. This trick works best for shawls, but you could use a variation on it for a garment.
And now that you know all my bind off secrets, got any tricks up your sleeve?
2 stretchy bind offs perfect for shawls
I don’t know about you, but I definitely have my favorite yarns, needle sizes, stitches, cast ons, and bind offs. I think most of us do.
Binding off for shawls can sometimes be tricky. The bind off definitely needs to be stretchy, plus fast and neat are huge bonuses.
My favorite bind off is the Decrease Bind Off, and my second favorite is Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off.
Decrease Bind Off
The Decrease Bind Off is the bind off I include in all my patterns, and it’s the bind off I default to on the rare occasions I get to knit another designer’s pattern.
To execute it you *k2togtbl, slip the stitch on your right hand needle back to your left hand needle, repeat from * until all your stitches are bound off.
It ends up looking like this:
I love it because it’s stretchy, easy to work, and easy to keep neat.
Once you get the hang of it you can work it almost in one motion making it fast, a huge bonus when you’re binding off hundreds of stitches.
Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off
Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off is a bit tricky to get into the rhythm of, but it is surprisingly stretchy, and it does look very neat at the end.
To work it you *yo purl wise (so ‘backwards’ around the needle), k1, slip the 1st stitch over the 2nd stitch (so the yo over the knit), yo purl wise, k1, (you’ll have 3 stitches on your right hand needle at this point), slip the yo over the knit (so the 2nd stitch over the 3rd stitch), and then slip your 1st knit over your 2nd knit, repeat from * until all your stitches are bound off.
Written another way:
Step 1: yarn over
Step 2: knit 1 stitch
(2 stitches on your right hand needle)
Step 3: pass the yarn over over the knit stitch
(1 stitch on your right hand needle)
Step 4: yarn over
Step 5: knit 1 stitch
(3 stitches on your right hand needle)
Step 6: pass the yarn over over the knit aka the middle stitch over the last stitch aka the 2nd stitch over the 3rd stitch
(2 stitches on your right hand needle)
Step 7: pass the 1st stitch over the 2nd stitch
(1 stitch on your right hand needle)
Repeat Step 4-7 until all your stitches are bound off.
It ends up looking like this:
You can find another explication, along with a good photo tutorial, here on Knitty.
This bind off is amazingly stretchy, very easy to keep neat, and I really really like it, except, I find it very slow.
Of course I might find it faster if I used it more often… (that whole practicing thing).
I do use this bind off if I’m binding off right after a row with yarn overs in it, because it provides more stability than the decrease bind off. That stability helps keep the yarn overs on the row below the bind off distinct.
Why do they work?
In the Decrease Bind Off the stretch comes from the being able to keep a very loose tension easily, and the speed comes from how easy it is to get into a steady rhythm.
In Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off, the stretch come from the yarn overs and the stability comes from the knit stitches. But all the slipping stitches over stitches slows the binding off down.
These are by far my favorite bind offs, and I use one of the two on 99% of my projects. Do you have a bind off you usually default to?
