How to Cast Off (Bind Off) in Knitting

Casting off — binding off in the US — is how you finish a piece of knitting so the stitches can’t unravel: each stitch is passed over its neighbour and off the needle, leaving a neat, closed chain along the edge. It’s the last row of everything knitted in the shop, taught in our beginners’ Stitch Schools, and used mid-piece too, for the armhole shaping and necklines in pieces like the footy guernsey cushion.

Step by step

Knit the first two stitches of the row, just as normal. You need two stitches on the right needle before the cast-off can begin.
Use the tip of the left needle to lift the first stitch up and over the second stitch, and drop it off the right needle entirely. One stitch is now cast off, and one stitch remains on the right needle.
Knit the next stitch from the left needle, then lift the previous stitch over it and off, exactly the same way. Knit one, pass one over — that’s the whole rhythm, all the way along.
Keep the chain loose as you go. A cast-off pulled tight makes an edge that can’t stretch — a neckband that won’t go over a head, a blanket edge that ripples the whole border. If yours always come out tight, cast off with a needle one or two sizes larger; the stitches themselves don’t change, only the edge does.
Match the stitches of the fabric as you cast off: over stocking stitch, knitwise is fine; over ribbing, cast off in pattern — knit the knit stitches and purl the purls as they present — so the edge ripples in step with the rib and stays stretchy.
Cast off at the start of a row when a pattern shapes an edge — a shoulder slope or an armhole steps one row at a time, because you can’t cast off at the end of a row: the yarn is already past the stitches. Our footy guernsey cushion’s how-to pages spell this one out, because it surprises every beginner once.
When the very last stitch remains, cut the yarn leaving a tail of about 10–15 cm (longer if that tail will sew a seam), pull the loop up big, take the needle out, and pass the tail through the loop. Tug gently to lock it — that loop is the keystone of the whole edge.
Weave the tail in along the back of the cast-off edge with a yarn needle, in two directions, so it can’t work itself loose (tails along their own colour, as always — see our Colour Changes page for the why).
Check the finished edge against the cast-on edge at the other end of the piece: the two should stretch about the same amount. If the last row is visibly tighter, that’s the row to practise on your next swatch — the fix is in step 4, not in pulling at the finished edge.

Patterns that use it

Beginner Craft-Night Knit Pack Vol 1 | 12 Easy Knitted Christmas Patterns PDF

Beginner Craft-Night Knit Pack Vol 3 | 12 Easy Ornament & Bauble Patterns PDF

Footy Guernsey Cushion Knitting Pattern | Green & Gold Jumper Cushion PDF, Aussie Rules, Digital Download

Baby Footy Guernsey Knitting Pattern | Sleeveless Green & Gold Baby Jumper PDF, 0-24 Months, Aussie Rules, Digital Download

Kangaroo Road Sign Blanket Knitting Pattern | Aussie Intarsia Throw Chart 100x130cm DK PDF

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Common mistakes

Passing a stitch over without knitting a fresh one first. The chain then eats two stitches at a time, the edge comes up far too short, and the corner gathers into a pucker.
Lifting the second stitch over the first by mistake, so the chain twists as it forms. It still holds, but the edge looks ropey and uneven next to a correctly worked one.
Cutting the finishing tail too short. Without a good 10–15 cm you can’t lock the last loop properly or weave the end in two directions — and a short tail is the one that wriggles free in the wash.

Tina’s tips

Cast off sitting down with the piece resting in your lap, and slow right down for the last ten stitches. More tight edges are born in the home stretch — when we’ve mentally finished — than anywhere else in the row.
Try not to cast off in a rush or a temper, even if it means leaving the last row until tomorrow. Your hands remember your mood — a tense evening casts off tighter than the calm one that did the knitting, and the edge keeps the difference.