How to bind off knitting
Knit two stitches, lift the first over the second, repeat. That's the standard bind-off, and it works for most things.
Updated August 12, 2026·6 min read
Knit two stitches, lift the first over the second, repeat to the end. That's the standard bind-off. Bind off and cast off are the same thing — UK patterns say cast off, US patterns say bind off.
The standard bind-off
- 1Knit the first two stitches normally, so both sit on the right needle.
- 2Slide the left needle tip into the first of those two stitches, the one further from the tip.
- 3Lift that stitch up, over the second stitch, and off the end of the right needle. One stitch remains on the right needle.
- 4Knit one more stitch, so there are two on the right needle again.
- 5Repeat steps 2 through 4 until one stitch remains.
- 6Cut the yarn leaving about six inches, pull the tail through the last loop, and tug it snug.
Stopping a tight edge
The bind-off comes out tighter than the fabric for almost everyone, because you're pulling each lifted stitch over a needle rather than letting it sit at fabric tension. Three fixes, cheapest first:
- Bind off with a needle one or two sizes larger in your right hand. Costs nothing, fixes most cases.
- Tug the working yarn after each lift to redistribute the slack forward instead of letting it lock up behind you.
- Use a stretchier bind-off method when the edge has to go over a body part. See below.
Which bind-off to use
| Method | Stretch | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (knit two, lift over) | Low | Scarves, blankets, shoulder seams, anything you'll sew |
| Standard on a larger needle | Medium | Hat brims, sleeve cuffs, most ribbing |
| Jeny's surprisingly stretchy | High | Top-down sock cuffs, neckbands, anything that must stretch and recover |
| Tubular | High | 1x1 rib where you want an invisible, rounded edge |
| Three-needle | None — it's a seam | Joining two live edges, like shoulder seams |
| Picot | Low | Decorative edges on shawls and baby garments |
For a first project, the standard bind-off on a larger needle covers everything you're likely to knit.
If it goes wrong
- The edge puckers and pulls the fabric in.
- Too tight. There's no fix short of undoing the bind-off, which is easy — pull the tail out and the stitches unzip back onto a needle. Redo it with a needle two sizes up.
- The edge is loose and lettucey.
- Less common, and usually from binding off with a much larger needle on already-loose fabric. Go back to the same needle size and tug after each lift.
- You ran out of stitches mid-row and something looks wrong.
- You likely knit two together somewhere instead of lifting over. Count the bound-off edge against your pattern's stitch count. If it's off by one or two on a scarf, leave it.
- The last stitch is a big floppy loop.
- Normal. Pull the tail firmly, then weave it in through the back of the edge stitches, which anchors the loop down permanently.
Binding off in the middle of a row
Patterns say things like "bind off 8 stitches, knit to end" when shaping an armhole or a buttonhole. Work the bind-off exactly as above until eight stitches have come off, then keep knitting normally.
The stitch left on the right needle after the last lift counts as the first stitch of the remaining row, not as a bound-off stitch. Miscounting that one is why armholes come out asymmetric.