One of the best ways to finish off toe-up socks, neck bands of bottom-up sweaters, cuffs of top-down sweaters, and other seamless pieces that need an elastic edge is to bind off stitches using the tubular bind off technique.
Yes, this method is a bit tedious, but you’ve spent hours working on that project and it deserves a proper treatment of its bind off edge. It is a lot like a bang at the end of a beautiful piece of music – something that will make you proud of your work. And that feeling is well worth the extra effort we are going to put into forming this neat elastic edge.
Don’t worry – I broke down the process of making this lovely elastic edge into five simple steps. Follow these steps and you’ll master this knitting technique without any issues.
There is nothing tricky about tubular bind off, as long as we understand what we are doing. And that understanding is what I’m happy to share with you in this tutorial.
As you see, tubular bind off forms a beautiful edge on a fabric worked in any stitch pattern – even a humble stockinette stitch gets an upgrade with this edging. But, of course, this method really shines when we use it to form an elastic edge on projects worked in “knit 1, purl 1” ribbing.
To download an 11-page PDF with the step-by-step photo tutorial about this technique, click here to join the All Tutorials Club 2021.
If you are already a member of the Club,
click here to download this PDF from the Club dashboard.
If you enjoyed this tutorial,
here’s something else you might find helpful:
“Neat Side Edges” Book
Learn twelve ways to make side edges of a knitted project nice and tidy. Plus, ways to fix side edges, and a way to improve edges of finished projects.
Happy knitting!
