Easy Way to Make a Bind Off Edge Less Tight, More Elastic and More Beautiful

You know how an edge formed by the regular bind off often looks like a slim line that is too tight to allow for the natural elasticity of the knitted fabric?

If only we could loosen the edge a bit to make it more elastic and to open the lovely chain of stitches sitting on top of the edge. This will let the humble regular bind off shine on necklines, sock cuffs and pretty much any other part of any other project.

Fortunately, there is a simple trick that allows us to make the regular bind off more prominent and a bit more stretchy. It is called the Suspended Bind Off, and it works great for binding off stitches of any stitch pattern – stockinette stitch, garter stitch, seed stitch and all types of ribbing.

Let’s see how it is done step by step.

The structure of an edge formed by this type of bind off is exactly the same as the structure of an edge formed by the regular bind off, but because we “suspend” each stitch, we keep it from tightening as we work the next stitch.

This simple move adds elasticity to the edge and makes the chain of stitches more prominent. It is a great solution in cases when the bind off edge turns out to be too tight.

When we use this method to bind off stitches of ribbing “in pattern”, it will be called the Alternating Suspended Bind Off. No matter how we call it, the bind off edge of your project will be more elastic and more decorative than the edge formed by the regular bind off. All because we used a small clever trick.

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