How to cast off knitting

Prevent your project from unraveling by casting off your knitting.

cast off knitting

by Emily Gilbert |
Updated on

Casting off, also known as binding off, is the last step in your knitting project and will keep your project from unravelling so it's well worth learning how to do it properly.

Luckily, it's all pretty simple. Here's what to do...

Standard cast off

  1. Start by knitting the first two stitches in your last row.
  1. Insert your left needle into the first stitch on your right needle. This will be the stitch in the back.
  1. To bind off the first stitch, use the needle to lift the first stitch up and over the second stitch and then drop it off the right needle. Knit another stitch from the left needle and repeat again.
  1. Continue to do this with each stitch until there are no stitches on the left needle and just one stitch remains on the right needle.
  1. Cut the yarn, leaving a 6 inch end. Using your fingers, gently pull on the last stitch to make it a little bit bigger. Then pull the end of the yarn all the way through the loop, take the needle out and pull the yarn tight.

Video how to

If you like to visually see how to cast off, check out the video below fromSheep & Stitch.

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