How to Do a Three Needle Knitting Bind Off
The three needle bind off is an excellent way for knitters to bind off while simultaneously seaming. The three needle bind off is a popular option for the shoulder seam portion of a knitted sweater, which makes it easier to connect edges without dealing with loose bound-off edges being sewn together. The technique is a little tricky, but anyone who has experience with other methods of binding off should have no problem picking it up with a little bit of practice.
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Things You'll Need
- Finished knitting project before binding off
- Two needles involved in knitting project
- Additional needle in same gauge
Instructions
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The first step is to hold your needles in such a way that both of the right sides of your knitting work are being held together or so that you are holding them as per the directions on the pattern that you are using.
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If you are transferring your work to a needle from a stitch holder or from waste yarn, you should be mindful of what direction your stitches are being transferred to the needle from. Make sure that the same number of stitches is present on each of the two needles. There are options for if you have only two of a type of needle rather than three, but using three needles to bind off is much more fluid and simpler to learn.
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If you only have two needles instead of three, use a larger needle in place of the RH needle. This is especially useful if you have a habit of binding off too tightly. You may also consider using a crochet hook in place of a third needle for binding off using this method.
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Using a third knitting needle, knit the first stitch through the second stitch with both needles and both sets of knitting work at the same time.
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Repeat the fourth step, knitting the second stitch through the stitches both on the first needle and the second. Then pull the first stitch over the top of the second stitch just as you would do if you were doing a standard bind off.
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Repeat step five across the entire row until the entire set of stitches has been properly bound off. Not only is this a tidy way to bind off your finishing row in your knitting project, but it is also excellent for simultaneously seaming together two finished knitting projects, such as knitting the sleeves of a sweater onto its body.
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Tips & Warnings
It is vital that you make sure that you have the same number of stitches on both garments, otherwise you will not be able to line the stitches up correctly when using the three needle knitting bind off. This technique involves knitting into stitches from two projects simultaneously which means that the stitch counts need to match in order to be successful.
