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Binding off secures the last row of the knitting so that it will not unravel. 

What do you do when you’ve knit your way through an entire ball of yarn? It’s time to join a new ball. There are several ways to do this, but here’s the join I use. 

## Binding Off (also called Casting Off) 

First knit two stitches, then * with the two stitch- es on the right needle, pass the right stitch over the left and off the end of the needle. Knit the next stitch. Repeat from * until the all stitches have been bound off. After you bind off the last stitch on the needle, cut the working yarn and pull the cut yarn through the last stitch to secure it. 

## For Practice 

Bind off the stitches on your practice swatch. 

Tie a new ball onto the old ball at the side edge using the first half of a square knot. Then slide the half-knot up to just behind the stitch on the needle and continue knitting with the new ball of yarn. This method has the advantage of uninterrupted knitted rows and feels quite stable where the new ball begins. 

I recommend always joining your new yarn at the beginning of a row so you don’t have a visible join in the middle of your row. 

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## Joining New Yarn 

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## Unknitting: Unraveling Stitch by Stitch 

This technique is also known as “tinking,” (“tink” is “knit” spelled backward). Unknitting moves stitches in reverse, undoing each new stitch from the right needle and replacing the old stitch on the left. If you’re at the end of a row, leave the full right needle in your right hand, exactly the opposite of what you’d do normally. If you’re in the middle of a row, find your working yarn (the end that’s coming from your ball of yarn) and hold the needle it’s attached to in your right hand. The working yarn comes off the back of the knit stitches. 

1. The trick to unknitting is to place the left needle tip into the stitch lying right underneath the live stitch next to the tip of your right needle. To do this, pull on the working yarn; the opening created in your stitches points to exactly where to place your left needle. 

2. Place your left needle in the opening from front to back ( Figures 1 and 2 ). This captures the stitch from the previous row without twisting it. 

3. Slip this stitch from right needle to left needle. Pull the working yarn to unravel the stitch. The old stitch now sits on the left needle—one stitch has been unknitted ( Figures 3 and 4 ). 

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you arrive at the mistake. 

## OOPS! Fixing Common Mistakes 

Binding off secures the last row of knitting so that it will not unravel. 

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