I finally finished my Secret of the Stole II stole yesterday and was trying to find a good bind off technique that would allow more give in the blocking process than my traditional bind off method would. So, I went web surfing. There are so many out there to choose from. I decided to go with the following "stretchy bind off" that I found here. I chose option #4 which is amazingly simple and it goes like this:
*k2tog, pass stitch back to non-working needle*, repeat from * until no stitches remain.
Perhaps when things settle down here I can compile some of the other methods into a list for Knitwith.us. What method do you like to use for binding off your knitting projects? Does it vary depending on the item being created?
… there’s a name for that? I guess I’ve been using the “stretchy bind off” like that. Now I feel all fancy about it, since it’s actually an Official Bind-Off, and not just something I did by winging it!
(Can’t wait to see the finished stole. I’m up to Hint #5 on mine now!)
I wonder how this compares to using a much larger needle to bind off? I usually use a needle several sizes larger than what I knit with. but I thinkI’ll try this one.
Hiya DK! I feel just like your first ‘commenter’ … that’s the only bind-off I’ve used for years, for most things! (Taught to me by Sivia Harding during a Moebius workshop).
Thanks for your comment on my finished stole — I’d like to say I thoroughly enjoyed knitting it, but I’d be lying.
I *did*, however, thoroughly enjoy the learning experience, and I definitely like the finished product!
thank you for the tip on the cast off! loved it better than any otheI’ve tried! Now I need to get photos up of my stole!
DK — I used this bind-off for my stole and found it to give me a much tighter edge that I felt was needed for blocking the stole. So I took it out and used a yarn-over bind off: Knit 1 stitch, *yarn-over, pass stitch over yo & off the needled, knit 1 stitch pass stitch over and off the needle. repeat from * until no stitches remain.
This gave a much looser edge with more stretch than the stretchy bind-off you used.