You may be wondering…How do I stop? How do I finish this PKP or scarf or whatever knitting you may have going?
You need to BIND OFF.
It’s a fairly simple process, but the trick is in the TENSION. This word, tension, refers to how tight or loose the stitches are. And in this case, you must have a loose tension in all the bind off stitches! Really, YOU MUST!
So here’s how to go about Binding Off your final row of stitches:
Knit two stitches. Loosely.^(see photo above)
Take the left-hand needle and pick up the first stitch on the right-hand needle…^ Note: The “first stitch” is the one closest to your right hand, not the one closest to the tip of the right-hand needle.
Pass it over the second stitch…^
And remove the left-hand needle from the loop, leaving the second stitch on the right hand needle.^
Knit another stitch. Stay loose!^
Then pass the FIRST STITCH over this newly knitted stitch.^
Repeat these last two steps over and over…the above^ is a photo of how it will look along the way. I’m getting ready to pass the first knitted stitch over the second one.
Here I’m pulling the second stitch through…^
…and off.^
Keep going, repeating these steps until you get to the very end.
You will have one loop left on your right hand needle.^
Cut the yarn, leaving a longish tail (6 inches) and pull this tail through the final loop on your needle:
Give the end a little tug to close the knot and…Voilà! You’re done!
Well, almost. You gotta weave in all those ends! Click here to learn how to do this!