When it comes time to finish your knitting project, the process of securing the remaining stitches is called binding off. If you’ve ever made potholders on a loom, the stitch overlapping process will seem very familiar!
Try to use a looser yarn tension during binding off, so your finished edge is as stretchy as the rest of your scarf. Knit two stitches onto your right needle. Then use your left needle to pick up the rightmost stitch and lift it over its neighbor and off the end of the needle.
Knit one more stitch onto the right needle, then repeat the process of lifting the new rightmost stitch over and off.
Remember to keep your yarn tension loose so the edge remains stretchy!
When only one stitch remains, cut a tail a few inches long and pull on the loop until the tail comes through.
Weave in Ends
Now it’s time to take care of all those loose ends you’ve got! At the spots where you added a new skein of yarn, use an overhand tie to connect the two tails (but not a knot!), then thread one onto a yarn needle.
Use the needle to bury this tail between stitches, bobbing and weaving through the knit material several times. You can do this in any direction you like, since the project is all one color yarn.
When the tail has traveled about six inches from its origin, pull the needle through, and trim the tail. Stretch and readjust the scarf material and the yarn end should disappear into the fabric. Repeat to weave in the second yarn end. When you’re done you should hardly see the yarn tails at all.
Then weave in the tails at the start and end of your scarf in a similar way, running your needle either down the long edge of the scarf or across the short edge.
You Did It!
Congratulations, you completed your first knitting project! It’s time to celebrate! Now that you have some confidence with the basic knit stitch, let’s expand your toolbox. In the next lesson, you’ll learn the basic purl stitch and make your second scarf.
