3 Needle Bind Off – Knitting Technique

Two needle bind offs are a technique used to bind off stitches when finishing a knitting project. There are two types of two needle bind offs: the three needle bind off and Elizabeth Zimmermann’s easy bind off.

Three needle bind off is a technique used to bind off shoulder seams, as it is not very elastic and will keep the shoulder from growing and stretching. To do this, you will need two pieces of knitting with live stitches on their needles and the same amount of stitches on each needle. With the right sides facing, hold the two pieces with their needles in your left hand and take a third needle. Insert the tip of the third needle knit-wise into the first stitch of each left hand needle, wrap the yarn around the right hand needle and pull through both stitches, leaving the resulting stitch on the right hand needle. Insert the third needle into the next stitch on each of the left hand needles, wrap the yarn again and pull through, leaving the resulting stitch on the right hand needle. Repeat this process until only one stitch remains on the right needle and no more stitches are on the left needle. Cut the yarn and pull it through the loop on the right needle to lock the stitches and weave in the end.

Elizabeth Zimmermann’s easy bind off is another technique that mimics the cast on edge created by the long tail cast on almost exactly. Cut the end of the yarn about 4 times as long as the edge you are binding off and thread the end onto a tapestry or other blunt needle. Starting on the left, gently slip the first two stitches off the needle and take your tapestry needle and insert it into the two stitches that are loose, the stitch closest to the needle first and then the end stitch. Pull the yarn through loosely, but not too loose. Slip one more stitch off the knitting needle and thread the tapestry needle through it and the stitch closest to it that is already off the needle. Continue across the row until there are no more stitches on the needle. Cut the yarn about 4 inches or 10 centimeters back, and pull it through the loop on the right needle, locking the stitches and then weave in the end.

There’s a lot to like about the Eloise Bandana from Katryn Seeburger. This cute little colorwork triangle can be worked as a bandana or kerchief size or a bigger shawlette.

It’s worked in two colors of fingering weight yarn so you can use whatever yarn you have in your stash and just make it as big as you can (since it is worked from the bottom up).

You can see the two sizes from the photo, and also two colorwork options: strawberries and lily of the valley.

But that’s not all the choices you have. In fact, there are 34 different charts you can choose from to knit onto your project. Some of the options include happy faces, a lobster, a pumpkin, a snail and a butterfly. There are cherries, peaches, tomatoes and radishes.

There’s even a blank square you can use to draw your own little design if you want to use something else. Or keep it blank and make it a plain checkerboard design.

And while both of these shawls use the same icons throughout, you could also use different designs throughout if you want. Say a fall version with a bat, pumpkin, leaf and acorn, or a summer beach theme with sailboat, fish, lobster and a bird? I keep suggesting four different icons because the larger size has four rows of squares, but the smaller has three, so you could do stripes of the same icon or alternate a couple of different ones, whatever you like.

Look through the finished projects on the Ravelry project page to see lots of different options, from rows to individual icons. There are also some projects that are smaller than the suggested size to make a smaller bandana. You could also keep going a make a bigger shawl working increases in the same way as you have been going.

Check out all the details and grab a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Katryn Seeburger]

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