I’m still jazzed about the three-needle bind off I did on my cabled sweater this week.  It’s just such a neat (in both senses of the word) technique that doesn’t get used enough.  It’s a great way to join shoulders on a pieced sweater, or pieces of a scarf, or squares of an afghan.  Is it kind of weird that I want to design something that uses the three-needle bind off, just so I can do it some more?  Possibly.

Anyhoo, if you haven’t done it before, it might feel a bit tricky- after all, you have to wrangle two pieces of knitting and three needles.  But, trust me!  It’s super simple.First, hold your knitting with good sides together in your left hand.Then, insert your third needle (in your right hand) into the first stitch of each piece of knitting.  Wrap your yarn, and pull it through, dropping the two stitches off the left needles, just like you’re doing a k2tog.Then, do it again. (Work a K2tog using one stitch from each needle.)You’ll have two stitches on your right needle.  So, now it’s time to do a plain ‘ol bind off, pulling the first stitch over the second.

Just keep going!  Work a K2tog using one stitch from each left hand needle, then pull the old stitch over the new.

When you’re finished, you’ll end up with a lovely neat row of bound-off stitches.  And, when you open up the piece and look at the right side- Ooh!  So pretty!Have you ever used a three-needle bind off?