How to Bind Off Stitches in Eastern Knitting

We already know how to cast on, knit and purl stitches using the Eastern (formerly known as Russian) knitting style.

Now, let’s see how we can bind off stitches when the knitted piece is finished.

Like most techniques in Eastern knitting, binding off stitches is a very simple process. There are only two steps and they are so easy that even absolute beginners will feel confident repeating them. No struggling with the needles when we pass one stitch over the other!

STEP #1

Knit 2 stitches together.

Because we use the Eastern knitting style, we insert the tip of the right needle into the first two stitches on the left needle from right to left.

Then we pick the working yarn, pull it through these two stitches to form a new stitch and slip the original stitches off the left needle.

STEP #2

Place the stitch that we’ve just formed on the left needle.

WATCH EVERY STEP IN THIS VIDEO TUTORIAL

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Do it without twisting the stitch. That means that we insert the tip of the left needle into the only stitch on the right needle from left to right.

Then ease the right needle out of the stitch leaving it on the left needle.

Now work step 1 again, knitting the just-slipped stitch and the next stitch together.

Then work step 2 to place the new stitch on the left needle.

To streamline this process, don’t take the right needle out of the stitch in step 2. Instead, push the tip of the right needle a bit farther to insert it into the next stitch on the left needle.

Move the right needle a bit to pick the working yarn and pull the yarn through to knit these two stitches together. This way, we combine the two steps required to bind off stitches into one continuous movement.

Keep binding off stitches until there is only one stitch sitting on your right needle.

Cut the yarn and pass the yarn tail through this last stitch.

Pull the tail to tighten the loop.

As you see, the bind off edge looks exactly like an edge formed by the regular bind off in classic knitting.

To bind off stitches in pattern, purl two stitches together in step 1 when the first stitch on the left needle is a purl stitch.

For example, if you bind off stitches in a 1×1 ribbing pattern that starts with a knit stitch, you would repeat this sequence: [bring the yarn to the back of the work, knit 2 stitches together, place the new stitch on the left needle, bring the yarn to the front of the work, purl 2 stitches together, place the new stitch on the left needle].

This process is the same for binding off projects worked back and forth and for the ones worked in the round.

To make sure there is no gap between the first and the last bound off stitches in a seamless project, use the technique explained in this tutorial to make the bind off edge smooth and neat.

Like most methods used in the Eastern knitting style, the process of binding off stitches is distilled to the bare minimum of steps to help us finish our projects in the most efficient way.

SAVE IT FOR LATER

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This and 44 other in-depth tutorials are part of Knitting Collection #5.

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