Japanese 3 Needle Bind-Off

Japanese 3 Needle Bind-off is a fascinating way to bind off and join two sets of live stitches, and can be used any place where you need a sturdy seam for the sake of the construction of your garment. And the Japanese 3 Needle Bind-off requires no working yarn at all so it great to use when you have played yarn chicken and lost.

Hold your two pieces of knitting with one wrong side facing you, and the two right sides together. Begin at the side away from your yarn tail, and work across as follows – insert your right hand needle tip through the first stitch on the front needle knitwise but do not take it off the needle, insert your right hand needle tip through the first stitch on the back needle purlwise and take it off that needle, bring the back/purl stitch through the front/knit stitch and remove the front stitch from the left hand needle.

There is one stitch on the right hand needle. Continue this process across but for the next and all subsequent stitches, when you have two stitches on the right hand needle, bind one off by passing the first stitch over the second. Finish the Japanese 3 Needle Bind-off by pulling the original working yarn through the last live stitches and tugging it tight to fasten off. If you prefer the traditional 3 needle bind-off, try this video.