Bind Off in Pattern

Have you ever come to the end of a knitting pattern and tells you to bind off in pattern, and you're not exactly sure what that means? Well, let me show you. Here I have a little swatch where the last few rows I've worked some knit 2, purl 2 ribbing, and we're gonna bind off in pattern. All I'm gonna do is look at the stitch on the needle and if it's a knit, I'm gonna knit it, if it's a purl, I'm gonna purl it while I'm also doing the bind off. So this first stitch is a knit, I'm gonna knit the stitch.

This next stitch is a knit, so I knit that one, too. Then pass the first stitch over the second stitch to bind off. Now when I come to the next stitch on the left needle, that one's a purl. So I'm gonna bring the yarn to the front, work a purl stitch, and now pass the first stitch over the second. Looking at the next stitch on the left needle, that one's also a purl.

So we're gonna purl and then pass the first over the second. Coming to the next stitch, I see that that's a knit, so I've moved my yarn to the back, gonna knit it, and then pass the first stitch over the second. So that's all there is to binding off in pattern. You're just gonna look at the row that's on the needle, and then if your next stitch is a knit, you knit it. If the next stitch is a purl, you purl it, and you'll continue that process while binding off all the way across the row.

At the end, you'll have one stitch left. You can just cut your yarn, draw the tail through that final loop, and that's binding off in pattern.