Three Easy Beginner Knitting Cast Offs – With GIFs
Learn three easy knitting cast offs to get your knits off of your needles!
So, you’re a new knitter. You’ve learned how to cast on stitches, you’ve spent weeks perfecting your knit stitch, and you’ve managed to keep your pets out of your yarn. Now what do you do with your knitting so you can actually use it?
If you just take it off your knitting needles, all of your hard work will unravel!
Casting off (or binding off, it’s the same thing) your knitting, is how to finish your project so that your stitches don’t all come undone. There are many different ways to cast off your knitting. These are three of my favorite ways to finish my knitting that are easy to learn and can be used in a variety of situations.
If you want to learn more about knitting, be sure to check out this post for a knitting overview, or this post all about knitting terms to know.
Knitting Cast Offs We’ll Cover
Basic Knit Cast Off
The basic knit cast off is the first cast off most knitters learn. It is simple to learn and makes a nice edge.
This is not a very stretchy bind off, and some knitters find it to be too tight. If you are worried about making your bind off edge too tight, use a bigger needle size to bind off with than you knit with. This will help keep your stitches loose.
How To Knit Cast Off
Knit the first two stitches to be bound off. Using the left-hand needle, pick up the first stitch on the right-hand needle, entering the stitch on the front side, going from left to right. Slip this stitch over the second stitch on the right-hand needle, so that only one stitch remains.
Knit the next stitch on the left-hand needle. You should have two stitches on the right-hand needle. Using the left-hand needle, pass the first right-hand stitch over the second stitch.
Continue knitting and slipping stitches until all stitches from the left-hand needle have been worked and one stitch on the right-hand needle remains.
Break your yarn and pull it through the last stitch.
Knit Two Together Cast Off
This is another easy cast off! Knitting two stitches together across your knitting binds off all of your stitches and leaves a neat edge.
This bind off is slightly stretchier than the knit cast off, but you are a tight knitter, you can always go up a needle size or two for your bind off.
How to Knit Two Together Cast Off
Insert the right-hand needle into the first two stitches on the left-hand needle, from the back, going from right to left.
Wrap the working yarn around the tip of the right-hand needle counterclockwise.
Use the tip of the right-hand needle to pull a stitch through the two stitches on the left-hand needle. Let these two stitches fall off the needle.
Slip the stitch that you just made on the right-hand needle back onto the left-hand needle.
Knit this stitch together with the next stitch on the left-hand needle in the same way.
Repeat this process until all of your stitches have been cast off, and you have one stitch on the right-hand needle.
Break off your working yarn and pull it through the last stitch.
Icelandic Cast Off
This is one of my favorite cast offs! It’s not as well known as some others, but once you try it, you’ll see why I love it!
It makes a decorative finish with a decent stretch. This makes it a great choice for brims and cuffs. It’s an especially nice way to bind off garter stitch.
This cast off can seem more complicated than some others, but once you get the hang of it, it goes very quickly.
How to do the Icelandic Cast Off
Insert the tip of the right-hand knitting needle into the first stitch on the left-hand needle, from right to left, with the right needle in front.
Then, slip the tip of the right-hand needle under the second stitch on the left-hand needle, going through the first stitch. The right-hand needle should be behind the left-hand needle.
Wrap the working yarn around the right-hand needle, counterclockwise.
Using the right-hand needle, pull the working yarn through the second stitch and let the stitch come off the left-hand needle. This is just like making a regular knit stitch.
The first stitch from the left-hand needle should now be bound off by the stitch you knit through the second stitch.
Slip the stitch that you just made on the right-hand needle back onto the left-hand needle. This is now the first stitch for the next bind off.
Continue binding off stitches until only one stitch on the right-hand needle remains. Break the working yarn and pull through the last stitch to bind it off.
Happy Knitting!
I hope you give all of these knitting cast offs a try and see what works best for you!
If you want to learn more knitting skills, take a look here.
What is your favorite bind off? Let me know in the comments below!