Elastic Bind Off

The elastic bind off is a simple one to work and creates a stretchy bind off for garter stitch, lace projects, and more. In this video, knitting expert Michele Lee Bernstein demonstrates how to work the elastic bind off.

Michele discusses that this a knitwise bind off that can be worked on either side of your fabric. For some projects, Michele works this bind off on the Wrong Side of the piece, so the purl bumps from the bind off are visible on the Right Side of the work. This is particularly useful in Stockinette stitch projects, as the fabric has a propensity to curl. This bind off is also great for the bottom of top-down shawls, especially if there is an edge that needs to be pulled out into scalloped points while blocking.

ELASTIC BIND OFF

To work the elastic bind off, Michele follows these steps:

1. Knit two stitches.
2. Bring the left needle through the front of the two stitches on the right needle and knit the two stitches together through their back loops (k2tog tbl)
3. Knit one stitch.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 until one stitch remains on the right needle. Cut yarn and bring yarn through the final stitch to fasten off.

Once the elastic bind off is complete, Michele compares this stretchy bind off with a traditional knitwise bind off. She notes that not only is the elastic bind off more stretch than a traditional bind off, it also has a nice detail with a beaded dot appearing in each of the chains in the bind off edge.