Friday, September 11, 2009

Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off

Knitty is up! Yaaaay!








Knitty.com will tell you all about how to do this bindoff, called "Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off."

I used to go to great lengths to avoid binding off -- going so far as learning how to do a k1p1 Kichener stitch so I could graft on a waistband. I generally avoided toe-up socks and other patterns that required a bindoff, losing out on a world of designs.

After I got seduced into the world of making moebii, which are knit from the inside out (unless you want to do a very messy graft) I realized that the jig was up -- I couldn't escape binding off anymore. This sparked a series of attempts to come up with a better bindoff, and this one quickly rose to the top of the bunch. It went through some evolution after I got in touch with (the AMAZING) Cat Bordhi. She helped to simplify and streamline it.

11 comments:

  1. Congratulations! I was in Cat's Saturday class, and saw you then. I just used your bind off on my first completed toe-up sock (Coriolis). It was a very Sock Summit project! It's on my blog at http://pdxknitterati.com (Sept. 9 post).

    Thanks for a very cool bind off.

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  2. I just used your bindoff on a pair of toe up socks using Cat Bordhi's heel method from Twist Collective. I really am surprised at the stretchiness of your bind off. I'm going to use it on all my projects from now on!

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  3. I never knit toe up socks because I could not finish them well. Then I read about this in Knitty...I am hooked. Thank you so much for sharing!

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  4. Fantastic bind off! Thanks for sharing it with us all!

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  5. I just used this clever bind-off for the top of a bag, and it's great! Next time, though, I'll use a crochet hook for increased speed because it's a lot like doing a series of single crochet along the live stitches.

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  6. I just used your bind off for the first time, and it's great! I'm a little directionally challenged, and so after the first or second yo I had already forgotten which is the "right" way and which is the opposite, but I found that for a purl, the yo should be oriented "normally" (whatever that is), and for a knit, it should be reversed. But the bind-off is stretchy, looks great, and you don't have to measure off yards of yarn and thread it onto a needle as you do with a sewn bind off. Thank you! (Oh, by the way, I posted about it on the Socknitter's yahoo group, but I renamed it by accident: Jeny's Sensationally Stretchy Bind Off. Well, that's not such a misnomer--it is sensational.)

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  7. I had been using an elastic bindoff on socks that was working alright until I got some yarn that wasn't naturally quite as elastice. I was directed to this bind off from Ravelry and it is amazing!! Thanks for putting it out there!

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  8. Hi Jeny, I just used your stretchy bind off for the first time and I was so amazed by its simplicity and S-T-R-E-T-C-H that I had to find your blog and say THANK YOU! What a fantastic method! I love not having to mess with a long tail like in the sewn bind off - which up until tonight had been my favorite stretchy one.

    I suspect I'm not the only person who thinks you might just be the next Elizabeth Zimmermann. :) Love your blog - keep up the great work!

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  9. I LOVE this cast off. Thanks! It is so simple and is wonderful. Now all of my fingerless mittens let me move my fingers!

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  10. I love this bind off but I'm confused when you're doing it in the round what you do with the first and last stitches...

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  11. feeling really inadequate since I knit English/throw style and having difficulty learning from continental knitters ...anyone know if there is a video demonstrating jenys seriously stretchy rib bind off English style? there IS one showing knit stitch but its the purl that has me stumped, I'm sure when is see it done i'll smack my head and yell "OF COURSE , HOW ELSE WOULD IT BE DONE" but until then i'll continue to feel inadequate!!

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