Sewn Bind Off

Here's a very nice bind off technique that is worked with a yarn needle rather than the knitting needles. (I've also seen this called Elizabeth Zimmerman's Sewn Bind Off, which probably means she "unvented" it.)

The sewn bind off is more subtle looking that a regular knit bind off, and looks very nice with garter stitch.

You will need a blunt yarn needle.

Break the yarn leaving a very long tail, about 3 times the final length of your bind off. Thread the tail on to the yarn needle.

1. Thread the yarn needle, from right to left, through the fronts of the first two stitches, as shown in the image above. Pull the yarn all the way through.



2. Now thread the yarn needle, from left to right, through the front of the rightmost stitch only. Pull the yarn all the way through. A nice thing about the sewn bind off is that it's hard to make it too tight, but do be mindful of the bind off tension.



3. Slip the rightmost stitch off the knitting needle.



Repeat the steps until you have one stitch remaining on the knitting needle, then thread the yarn needle from right to left through the last stitch and slip it off the knitting needle. Here's what the sewn bind off looks like.