Binding Off Without Yarn

Most knitters have played the game of yarn chicken at least once. You’re working on a project and you aren’t quite sure if you’re going to have enough yarn to finish and bind off. Sometimes you get lucky and have enough yarn, and sometimes you lose the game of yarn chicken and run out of yarn before the project is complete. If you run out of yarn near the end of the bind off, never fear—Michele Lee Bernstein has a solution for you. In this video, she shows you how to complete a bind off without any additional yarn.

Michele begins by pointing out that this particular bind off is one that she would not often use. It’s great in a pinch when you’ve run out of yarn, or need a firm, tight edge, like for a buttonhole. Because it creates such a tight edge, binding off without yarn isn’t recommended for most projects.

The swatch shown in the video has the several stitches bound off in the conventional manner. Michele then drops the working yarn and continues binding off without yarn.

1. One stitch on right needle.
2. Slip stitch knitwise from left needle to right needle (2 stitches on right needle).
3. Pass first stitch over second stitch (1 stitch remains on right needle).

Michele repeats Steps 2 and 3 until one stitch remains. In order to complete the bind off, she notes that you’ll have to take a length of yarn, run it through the final stitch, and sew it down so that the bind off doesn’t unravel. You can use a leftover yarn tail that you snipped on the project or use a yarn that is similar in weight and color to the project to complete this final step.