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Perfect Bind Off in the Round: My Favourite Trick

I love this little trick for joining my cast-off edge in the round. It finished it up so nicely. Use it for the cast-off around cuffs, sock tops, headbands, or any other circular project that you’re binding off.

Cast off normally. (I assume you’re knitting 2, then passing the first stitch over, etc, until the end. But this also works with Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off and other cast off methods that look like a chain of V’s along the cast-off edge.)

When the last stitch has been cast off, cut the yarn, leaving a 6″ tail, but don’t thread the tail through the stitch.

Binding Off trick. www.aknitica.com #knittingtips #write31days

Instead, pull the last loop until it gets bigger and bigger and then gigantic and then — gasp! — it grows so big that it pops out entirely. You’ll now have a straight, non-loopy tail that comes out of the previous cast-off stitch. Nothing will unravel; it can’t. That tail is still holding things in place.

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Using a darning needle, sew the tail underneath the first stitch of the round. Go under both sides of the stitch:

Binding off in the round trick. www.aknitica.com #knittingtips #write31days

Now, poke the needle back through the last stitch of the round, where the tail originated.

Binding off in the round trick. www.aknitica.com #knittingtips #write31days

You’ve just created a fake “stitch” in the chain of cast-off stitches. Sew in your end as normal. (I prefer to use duplicate stitch to sew in my ends.)

Perfect cast-off edge join for circular knitting. www.aknitica.com #knittingtips #write31days

Isn’t it gorgeous? I first learned this trick from Cat Bordhi’s book New Pathways for Sock Knitters. It’s one of my all-time favourites because not only did it help me to understand sock structure and give me a way to custom size my socks, but it was also full of little tips like this that made my knitting nicer. I definitely recommend it for every knitting reference library.
31 Days to Your Nicest Knitting series. www.aknitica.com #write31days #knittingtipsThis post is part of my 31 Days to Your Nicest Knitting series. Every day, I’ll post a new tip or trick to make your knitting nicer. You can follow along easily by subscribing. If you have any knitting problems you’d like me to fix, let me know and I’ll try to answer your question as part of the series. You can find all the posts in the series here.