Tubular bind off is probably the best way to close stitches of ribbing. It forms a neat edge without a ridge and with the same elasticity as the rib fabric. The edge looks as if it doesn’t end, but rather flows to the other side of the work.
We’ve already discussed how to make this edge when we bind off stitches of a “knit 1, purl 1” ribbing.
In this tutorial, we’ll see how we can do it when we finish a 2×2 rib.
If you prefer to learn from a video tutorial:
To close the stitches, we’ll use a wool needle, so whenever you are ready to bind off, measure a length of yarn that is around four times as long as the bind off edge, and cut the yarn. Then thread this long tail into a wool needle.
To make it easier for you to see how each step is worked, I attached a piece of yarn in a contrasting colour as the yarn tail in my swatch.
To simplify the process, we’ll take advantage of the basic fact that the stitches that we see as purls on the right side of the work look like knits on the wrong side of the work.
Instead of trying to remember a way to join knit stitches and a way to join purl stitches, we’ll alternate joining knit stitches on the right side of the work with joining knit stitches on the wrong side of the work.
As we do that, we’ll always work stitches in pairs, inserting the wool needle from front to back into the first stitch we join and from back to front into the second stitch.
The other thing to keep in mind is that we work each stitch twice.
It is impossible to do to the first and the last knit stitches on both sides of the work when we bind off stitches of a project worked back and forth, simply because there is no fabric at the right side of those stitches.
To make up for this, we need to make an extra step before we get to the main part of binding off stitches. This preparation step (let’s call it “step 0”) is required only when we bind off stitches of a fabric worked back and forth.
STEP 0
With the right side of the work facing you, insert the wool needle from front to back (left to right) into the first knit stitch from the tip of the knitting needle.
Slip this stitch off the knitting needle, then move the fabric around the knitting needle so that you could see the wrong side of the work and insert the wool needle from back to front (left to right) into the first knit stitch on the wrong side of the work (it will be the second stitch from the tip of the knitting needle).
Pull the yarn through, but don’t pull it too tight. The strand at the top of the edge should be about as long as one leg of a stitch.
Now, that we set up the work for binding off the rest of the stitches and determined the simple rules behind the logic of this bind off method, let’s see how we can implement these rules step by step to give a beautiful finish to the “knit 2 purl 2” ribbing in our projects.
In most cases, the ribbing starts with two knit stitches on the right side of the work, but you can apply the same logic when the ribbing in your project starts with purl stitches.
STEP 1
With the right side of the work facing you, insert the wool needle from front to back into the knit stitch that we’ve just “worked” and from back to front (right to left) into the next knit stitch.
Slip this stitch off the knitting needle, pull the yarn through and form the strand at the top of the edge.
Because we “work” each stitch twice, we are going to use the last-worked stitch again. To make sure the stitch holds its shape and is clearly visible when it is time to insert the wool needle into this stitch again, hold the fabric at the bottom of the stitch as you pull the yarn through.
STEP 2
Move the fabric around the knitting needle so that you could see the wrong side of the work, and insert the wool needle from front to back (right to left) into the “already-worked” knit stitch.
Slip this stitch off the knitting needle and insert the wool needle from back to front (left to right) into the next knit stitch on the wrong side of the work.
Slip the second stitch off the knitting needle, pull the yarn through and form the strand at the top of the edge.
Remember to hold the fabric at the bottom of the second stitch as you pull the yarn. This will keep this stitch from getting lost in the fabric.
Now we simply repeat these two steps.
When we work step 1 again, we join the second knit stitch of the previous “knit 2” column of stitches (the “already-worked” stitch) with the first stitch of the next column of knit stitches.
Slip the stitch off the knitting needle, pull the yarn through and form the strand at the top of the edge.
Then we work step 2, moving the fabric around the needle and joining the second stitch of the previous column of knit stitches (the “already-worked” stitch) with the first knit stitch in the next column.
This time, the second knit stitch is not the first stitch from the tip of the knitting needle. When we insert the wool needle into that stitch, we have to go around the first stitch. It is a bit inconvenient, but not difficult.
Because the first stitch on the knitting needle is not secured yet, we pull the yarn through without slipping the stitch off the knitting needle.
We’ll slip both these stitches in a moment, right after we work step 1 again.
Continue until you bind off all stitches. Then insert the wool needle from front to back into the last knit stitch on the right side of the work and from front to back into the last stitch of the row.
Pull the yarn through and form the last strand at the top of the edge.
Secure the yarn, hide the tail and enjoy the beautiful edge you’ve just created. This edge is neat, stretchy and fully-reversible. It doesn’t look like a stiff bind off edge we get when we use other methods.
This edge is identical to the edge created by the tubular cast on. These two methods are perfect when we want to add matching cast on and bind off edges to our projects.
Tubular bind off has a very pleasant rhythm, and the process is the same for joining stitches of a fabric worked back and forth and the one worked in the round.
The only difference is that when we join stitches of a seamless project, we skip step 0 and finish by joining the last and the first knit stitches of the round on the right side of the work, and then joining the last and the first knit stitches on the wrong side of the work.
This will create a seamless joggles join at the end of the round.
SAVE IT FOR LATER:
This and 41 other in-depth tutorials are part of Knitting Collection #6.