Knit bind-off

Since I got my complaining out of the way, how about some knitting stuff? I'm trying to keep some more of the 'technical posts' how do you say, cleaner? I'm an engineer, I work with mostly dudes all day, and hey, I heard (on Wait Wait! Don't Tell Me no less, so you know it's true) that cursing helps you bond with your co-workers. That being said, my mom reads this site, so, sorry Mom, I'm trying to behave.

For two of the swatches I've made so far, the knitted cast-on and the cable cast-on, the complementary bind-off is the knit bind-off. This is according to The Knitters Book of Finishing Techniques , which is a great collection of techniques including the most common cast-ons and bind-offs and their various advantages and drawbacks. I'd like to officially give it the "AC Engineered Knits Bump", and guarantee that you'll love it (guarantee void everywhere). First things first, let's go over the knit bind-off.

Knit bind-off

Knit two stitches:


Using the tip of your left-hand needle, hook the first stitch on your right hand needle (the one that you knit first):


Pass the first stitch over the second stitch:

Up n' over.

And drop it off the needle. One stitch bound-off!

Booyah!

Knit another stitch so there are two on the right hand needle again. Repeat the procedure until all stitches are bound off. It'll look something like this with ribbing:


I used a needle three sizes larger than the working needle. It's easy to do this bind-off too tightly, so I usually use a larger needle.

But how well does this really match up to the knitted cast-on and cable cast-on? Browsing through the other photos, I would say very well to the cable cast-on, bit of a stretch to the knitted cast-on. The knitted cast-on is usually fairly subtle (especially when you don't do it with a gigantor needle) and I don't think the knit bind-off is particularly subtle. This may just be it's 'best' match, not necessarily a 'good' match. I'm going to keep my eye out for a better one.

April 13, 2010 - Edited to add: For a technique to clean up that last remaining stitch, see the sequel, Knit bind-off: last stitch boogaloo.