Stretchy Bind Offs

I want to save these somewhere so I'll always know where to find them again. Will update this later after I test them all to say which one is my favorite for toe-up sock cuffs. Update: EZ wins, not a huge surprise. Hers is listed first.

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Elizabeth Zimmermann's Sewn Cast off from Knitting Without Tears

Break yarn, leaving a tail about 4 times as long as the circumference of the sock. Thread a tapestry needle.

* sew forward (right to left) through two stitches as if to purl, leave the stitches on. Sew backward (left to right) through one stitch as if to knit and remove the stitch.
Repeat from * until you run out of stitches. Work in tail on the inside of the sock and trim any excess.

Denise's variation for circular knitting (from http://www.socknitters.com):
For the very first stitch only, after you go backwards through it, do not remove it, instead move it to be the last stitch on the final needle. It will then become the final stitch to be cast off. This gives a neater finish to the end of the round.

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From http://www.knittinguniverse.com (Ask Athena)
Stretchy Bind Off by Sarah Hauschka
Email: shauschka@earthlink.net -- Seattle, WA, USA

Description:
In the first stitch, draw up a loop and leave it on the right needle. Do not slip the stitch off the left needle. Now knit the first two stitches on the left needle together, slip the first one of those two off the left needle, and pass the first stitch of the two on the right needle over the second one. Yarn forward.

Purl the next two stitches together, slip off the first of the two on the left needle. On the right needle, with the yarn still forward , pass the first stitch over the second. Yarn back.

Continue to alternate this with yarn forward (purling) and yarn back (knitting). This cast off is tidy and very elastic without seeming loose. It works well for cuffs and hems and necklines. The combination of working each stitch twice, and moving the yarn forward and back gives it a lot of spring.

Attribution: This may be published by someone else, but I unvented it.

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From http://www.knittinguniverse.com (Ask Athena)
Stretchy Bind Off by Valerie
Email: VALERIETHERED@cs.com

Description:
I learned this technique from someone on the socknitter's list who answered my question on the same subject when I was knitting a toe-up sock. It is very simple, both in concept and execution. For every two stitches you bind off, chain one (just like in crochet). Quick and easy!

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From http://www.knittinguniverse.com (Ask Athena)
y Jennifer Tocker
Email: jbtocker@inter.net.il -- Israel

Description:
One of my favorite methods for casting off elastically is to simply use a larger size needle, 1 or 2 sizes bigger than the ribbing, for the cast off row.

Another method taught to me by Sandy Miller in St. Paul, MN, includes a YO in the bind-off row after each 3 or 4 stitches, which is then immediately cast off with the stitch next to it.

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Peggy's Stretchy Bind-off for Toe-Up Socks
from http://www.socknitters.com

If you are knitting a K1, P1 ribbing, on the row before the bind-off row: K1, M1 ("make one" by making a half-hitch loop, not by picking up the in-between thread), pull the M1 tight, P1.

Repeat around. Bind off row (go up a needle size or two): K1, slip the M1, pass the K1 over the slipped M1, P1, pass the slipped M1 over the P1, K1, pass the P1 over, etc. as for a regular bind off.

If you are knitting a K2, P2 ribbing, on the row before the bind-off row: K2, M1, P2, M1.

Repeat around. Do a regular bind off, as above, remembering to slip the M1 rather than knitting it. The M1 is never actually knit, so it doesn't make a stitch which will add bulk to the top of your cuff; it simply creates an extra loop in your chain bind off.

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From: Doris (dnostran@suffolk.lib.ny.us)
posted to KNIT-U mailing list

Recommended for triangle shawls, cuffs on toe-up sock or necklines:

1. K2sts.
2. Slip the 2 sts from the right hand needle to the left hand needle.
3. K these 2 sts tog. K1.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all sts have been bound off.

Test the bind off on your swatch to make sure it gives the look and
flexibility you desire.

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