How to bind off knitting

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Learn how to finish your knitting with the basic bind-off.

Once your knitting project is finished, you will need to close all the live stitches, so you can take your knitting off the needles. This process is called binding off (in the US) or casting off (in the UK). The terms may differ, but the meaning behind them is the same.

In patterns, bind-off is commonly abbreviated as BO.

There are several ways to bind off the knitting. Some are more elastic than others, some are decorative. You will choose the one, that suits your project best.

The basic bind-off is the most common bind-off method, it is fast and easy to knit. This method creates a firm and neat edge. This bind-off is not too elastic, so you might want to choose a different technique if you need the edge to be stretchy.

You don’t want to bind off too tight, or the edge will be narrower than the knitted item. To fix this you can try to make each stitch a bit looser than it should be. If that’s not working use a bigger needle size.

You will find the photo tutorial for the basic bind-off below.

You might also want to check out how to bind off knitting in the round neatly.

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TUTORIAL: HOW TO BIND OFF YOUR KNITTING

Typically, you want to bind off in pattern. Meaning, that you will knit over the knit stitches and purl over the purl stitches.

For this example, I am using a swatch that is knit in stockinette stitch. All the stitches are knit stitches, so I’m going to knit all stitches. If there were purl stitches in the previous row, I’d purl over those stitches.

Let’s begin!

Step 1: Knit the first 2 stitches.

There are 2 stitches on your right-hand needle.

Step 2: Insert the left-hand needle into the first stitch on the right-hand needle and pull this stitch over the second one. 

There is one stitch left on your right-hand needle.

Step 3: Knit the next stitch on your left-hand needle.

There are 2 stitches on your right-hand needle again.

Step 4: Insert the left-hand needle into the first stitch on the right-hand needle and pull this stitch over the second one. 

There is one stitch left on your right-hand needle.

Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have 1 stitch left on your right-hand needle. You will see a neat chain of V’s forming along the top edge of your knitting.

Cut the yarn, leaving a 4 or 5 inches long tail. Pull the tail through the last stitch and gently tug to secure it.

I hope you found this basic bind-off tutorial useful. Be sure to check out other knitting tutorials!