Binding Off, Picking Up

I often end up doing things the hard way. Sometimes it's a learning experience, but sometimes it's really worth it. 

That's how I feel about the tubular bind-off. It's grafting (aka Kitchener stitch), and while some people might find it's tedious, I really love the look. So much that I was willing to do a total of three yards of it for several cardigans!

If grafting's not for you, there are also several ways to use a tubular cast-on - with crochet stitches (too fiddly for me, but some people love it) or with a long-tail (the one I usually use).

Because of the way my most recent sweater was constructed, all the ribbing was worked at the end, and that meant using the tubular bind-off. In this video, I walk you through the steps.

Another critical finishing detail is picking up stitches for the neckline. Because knit stitches aren't square, you can't pick up stitches in a 1:1 ratio - doing that risks a baggy neckline!

To get the stitches to lay flat, I needed to use multiple ratios depending on where I was picking up - a horizontal edge, a vertical edge, and a curved edge. I walk you through all the ratios in the video.