What is the best way to end a circular bindoff so there is no “stair step”? I never have succeeded in doing it very well.
I’m looking forward to this answer!
The way I do it is at the end. When the last stitch has been bound off and the last loop is a stitch higher than the beginning of the round, I knit into the first stitch I bound off (or sometimes the gap between the first and last stitches, depending) and bind off that extra stitch and finish as usual. That generally works to even out the difference between the beg and end of a round.
Thank you! I’m gonna give that a try right now!
I’m gmcsew on ravelry. Working on my second FLS.
Worked perfectly!!! Many thanks!
Hugs, Gretchen
I’m on my first FLS and my first sleeve. I have bound off all the stitches except the last one but I really need help in understanding how to do this. I need to break this down cuz it’s not making sense to my thick skull.
First, do I take the needle off the last stitch/loop like I do in flat knitting or do I leave it on the R needle? When I knit into the first stitch I bound off, that would be to the R of the loop hanging out, correct? It looks like a gap between my bindoff??
So if I knit into that - basically picking up a stitch, then it says to bind off that extra stitch. So do I put the last loop (still hanging out there…) on my needle ontop of the new stitch, then slip over my new stitch and then pull my tail through the last one (like a typical bind off)? What am I missing??
I know I’m probably overthinking it but right now it’s not making sense to me.
Thanks in advance for your wonderful help!
When you have the last stitch left, leave it on the R needle. Poke that needle into the middle of the first st you bound off, wrap the yarn around it and pull through. Now there’s 2 sts on the R needle so pull the one on the right over the left st like a regular bind off. Cut your yarn and either pull the last loop out or thread the tail through it. However you’re used to finishing off the last stitch for any bind off. Then pull the tail to the WS and weave it through the stitches.
Here’s what I do (from Barbara G. Walker’s book “Knitting From the Top”).
Cut the yarn, leaving a 6 to 8 inch tail. With a yarn needle, draw the yarn end UP through the last loop remaining on your right-hand needle. Then pass the yarn end AROUND the two strands of the first bound-off loop (which is the second bound off stitch you made when you started binding off). Then pass the yarn-end DOWNWARD though the same loop from which it emerged (the loop you first passed it UPWARD through). This makes the yarn-end form a horizontal loop just like the rest of the bound-off stitches. The object of the game is to make all the bound off stitches look the same and this will do that. It’s easier to do than to explain. Try it and see!
I think that’s what I do. Except I just call it making a duplicate stitch to join the end with the beginning.
Thank you all! I’m going to try it out with some trial yarn and other needles and get comfy with it. Then I’ll try it on my FLS. Thanks for breaking it down for me!