Tuesday, June 19, 2007

How to work a crochet chain bind off

Someone asked about the crochet chain bind off I used at the top edge of the Fichu pattern. As it turns out, it only took a simple written response before the light bulb clicked on for her, but I went looking for an online explanation with pictures, and wasn't able to come up with one. So I thought I'd do it myself. This is an edge finish that is often used on doily patterns, and can be useful at the edge of square or circular shawls worked from the center out, or triangle shawls worked from the top down. In Traditional Lace Shawls Martha Waterman calls it a "crocheted-off edge".

At the beginning of the row, put a crochet hook through the first two (or more) sts from right to left.


Wrap the working yarn around the crochet hook.

Pull the yarn through the stitches on the needle, forming one stitch on the crochet hook

Slide the two stitches off of the knitting needle

*Wrap the working yarn around the crochet hook. Pull it through the one stitch already on the hook. Repeat from * forming a crochet chain.

When the chain is as long as you like (or as long as the directions state)
Insert the crochet hook into the next group of stitches on the knitting needle (In this case I've done three.)

Wrap the yarn around the hook and pull it through the stitches on the needle and slide them off.
There are now two stitches on the hook (the last stitch of the chain and the loop just pulled through the sts from the knitting needle.)

Wrap the yarn around the needle and pull it through the two stitches on the hook.
At this point there will be one stitch on the crochet hook. Work another chain on this stitch When it is long enough, insert the hook into the next group of stitches on the knitting needle and repeat the process.


Finished Product. This isn't as elegant a shawl finish as a knit on edging but it has it's uses. It's flexible and the chain loops can be blocked out to points. A second or third tier of chain loops can be built one the first. Actually, I've seen German doilies where the effect is elegant....

12 comments:

YarnThrower said...

Thank you for the info! I LOVE it that knitting is such a great hobby, because there is still so much to learn, and I also LOVE it that my knitting "buddies" are all so smart, willing, and able to share their knitting expertise! Now I know how to do a crochet chain bind-off, and I couldn't say that yesterday! So, thank you!

Cindy G said...

Thanks for the thanks *G* The variety of techniques/creative possibilities is one of the things that has kept me fascinated with knitting for so many years. There's always something new to try out there.

Sandra said...

I love this finish for shawls - it's subtle, yet just open enough for a lace finish.
Nice tutorial.

Anonymous said...

How stretchy is this bind off? It looks like the knitter could adjust for that. I'm thinking it might make a very different decorative bindoff on a pair of toe-up socks. Thanks!

Hege said...

Pretty bind off! Thank you for the tutorial!

Leslie said...

Actually I was just reading about this last night in Queen Kahuna's book. She does it a bit differently for socks but it's the same idea - and makes a nice stretchy bind off. I could have used this a couple of weeks ago but now have it in the arsenal for later. Thanks!

Strikkelise said...

Cute technique! Thanks for the tut, I've never seen this before.

~~Sew Happy Designs~~ said...

That is just so lovely, I am going to give it a try!
Blessings~
Cindy

Sande Francis said...

I think a slight improvement over your method is to do a chain st thru the knit sts (your method creates a single crochet). Where you pull a loop thru only the knit sts on the hook, I would continue to pull the YO thru the last loop on the hook - that from the chain you are working. This causes the chain loops to organically form from the cluster of knit sts. Please try it and let me know what you think.

Excellent photos, good explanation.

KBlicious said...

Just a quick thank you for the wonderfully informative post! I knit and I crochet, but have yet to "combine" the too and your illustrations and explanation were PERFECT! Thanks a bunch!

Fiadhnat said...

Thank you for the tutorial. As a knitter more than a crocheter I was having difficulty understanding the finish in the pattern 'Pretty as a Peacock'. Now I get it, thanks to you.

Deena said...

Thank you for a precise and helpful tutorial. This really helped me finish an Icelandic shawl. I'm a knitter and about the only time I crochet is for bind-offs. I'm so appreciative of you taking the time and effort to help everyone in our knitting community