Of all the methods of weaving in your ends, this is the one that I prefer if for some reason you can’t wait for a seam. Basically, one does a duplicate stitch on the wrong side, which allows the end the same kind of stretch as the fabric itself.

This means that your end is unlikely to work itself free and pop out on the right side. Ah, the nightmares of intarsia.

Here you are, with a wanton end that needs hiding:

So you thread your needle and begin following the weave of a row. I’ve made my demo swatch so that you can easily see where you need to go.

Keep going.

Once you’ve gone an inch or so, you can cut the yarn, leaving a tiny tail of maybe 1/4 inch:

And you’re done! See how stretchy this is?

Now we just need to wait for the giant ’80’s picture sweaters to come back so you can practise.

Although not as hardy as the Three Needle Bind Off, Kitchener stitch is an invisible way of connecting two edges of live stitches–say, at a shoulder, a sock toe or under the arm of a yoked sweater. 


You will need:

- a tapestry needle

- two edges with an equal number of live stitches, like so:





Now thread your tapestry needle using a convenient end of yarn.  I would suggest one of the ends from your knitting.  I have used a contrasting colour so you can see what I’m doing.
Hold your knitting with the purl sides facing each other (wrong sides together).  Slide your tapestry needle through the first stitch on the top needle (or the one farthest away from you) from the inside to the outside (or purl side to knit side).





Then, slide that stitch off the needle.





Now, repeat this movement with the stitch on the opposite needle.





Here’s where things get a little tricky.


Take your needle and insert it into the first stitch that is already off the needle, from right side to wrong side (knit side to purl side).  Then, insert the needle through the next stitch on that needle from purl side to knit side (inside to outside):





Pull the yarn through, and slip that stitch off the needle, then repeat on the other side.  Needle goes down through the stitch that is already threaded, then up through the next stitch on the needle from purl side to knit side:





Now repeat on the top needle:





And again on the bottom needle:





Until you’ve used up all your stitches.   Now insert the tapestry needle through that last stitch and pull it through to the wrong side of your work, where you can weave in the end of your grafting yarn.

Here’s what it looks like all done:

Now is that cool or what?

This is a handy little technique for attaching two edges of live stitches. Say, in a shoulder, or under the arm of a yoked sweater.

You could always just bind off and sew right? Sure, but binding off and sewing makes a lumpy, thick seam. Although not as invisible as grafting–aka Kitchener Stitch–[which will be coming soon!] the three needle bind off is harder-wearing while still giving a professional, clean finish.

Now, where were we? Yes, you’d just knit a swatch with a provisional cast on, which you then unzipped to reveal a bottom edge of live stitches.

Nice! Now, make sure you have an equal number of stitches on both needles. You will need to pick up one of those funny half-stitches at either the beginning or the end of the unzipped cast on row.

Since you want the seam to appear on the inside, fold the swatch so that the right sides are facing each other, and the needles are parallel to each other, as shown above.

Note: You can use any needles you want–straight, circular, double-pointed–as long as the tips of the needles are pointing the same direction.

Now . . . introduce the third needle to the other two needles by sliding it through the first stitch on each needle, knitwise:

See that? I’m knitting through two stitches at once. Therefore I will wrap the yarn and pull it through like so:

And then slide both stitches off their respective needles like so:

That wasn’t so hard, right? Now do it again. Just once more.

Now that you have two stitches on Needle Number Three, we can proceed to the binding off part. You probably already know what is coming next . . . insert the tip of either left hand needle into the second loop on the right hand needle and pull it over and off.

Now continue to knit through one stitch off of each needle and then bind the new stitch off.
When you’re finished, cut the yarn and pull it through the last stitch . . .

. . . and you’re done! Here’s your seam from the inside:

And from the outside:

Wasn’t that fun! Next time we’ll get to the Kitchener stitch (aka grafting).

Right.

Last we spoke, you were here:

Now we’re at the payoff: you get to unzip the provisional cast-on and reveal the live stitches waiting for you at the bottom.  Oh yeah.

Remember when you tied off the end of your cast-on by pulling the cut yarn through the final loop that was on your crochet hook?  Unpick that.

Now tug on it just hard enough to pull out the first loop.

Et voila!  Put that stitch on your needle, and continue pulling gently and picking up the stitches on your needle.  It’s maybe a good idea (particularly if your yarn is slippery) to insert the tip of the needle into the stitch BEFORE you unzip it:

Of course, if you’re really bold or just like a challenge, you could give a nice, sharp tug and unzip all the stitches at once and then pick them up . . . but that way lies madness (trust me on this one).

Once you’ve got them all unzipped you will notice that your waste yarn runs through a funny half-loop thingy at the side:

You may, if you need or want to, pick it up and put it on your needle.   Or not.  It won’t go anywhere if you don’t.  

You will have one stitch less than you originally cast on.  That loop I was just talking about is half of the missing stitch (the other half is at the other end). 

And there you have it.  A swatch with live stitches at both ends!  How incredibly useful . . . if you want to learn the magical, mystical  Three Needle Bind Off.

But that will have to wait for another day.  Come back soon, y’all hear?