Yarn Bingo Cast on/Bind off

Happy February, or should I say “Fiberary.”

This month’s focus is on learning a new cast-on and/or bind-off. No 2 are the same and have a different look and effect with what you’re knitting. There are over 35 different methods, but we’re going to feature only a few here.

On www.berroco.com , their Learning Center Is a great resource for all levels.

As a little girl, I learned the backward loop method, which I used for everything until I learned the long- tail. The backward loop is a tight cast-on & great for adding stitches in the middle of a row (like for arm holes in a top- down yoke sweater):

https://verypink.com/2010/10/26/backwards-loop-cast-on/

The long-tail cast on makes a very neat first row, but tricky to know how much yarn to allow yourself for your cast-on stitches count, especially when it gets up to 100 or more stitches:

https://verypink.com/2010/03/13/video-long-tail-cast-on/

A Provisional cast-on is often used to create a row of live stitches that may be picked up and used later:.

https://verypink.com/2016/01/06/provisional-cast-on-using-a-crochet-hook/

A beautiful start or finish to a garment is the icord. Check out the video for icord Cast-on and Bind-off here:

https://www.berroco.com/learning-center/how-videos/how-i-cord-cast-bind

All your hard work deserves a great finish! I mentioned icord bind-off above. For a fancy finish, try a picot edge:

https://verypink.com/2013/02/20/crochet-for-knitters-picot-edging/

https://verypink.com/2012/05/02/picot-edge/

If you’re making socks or sleeves and need some stretch to fit around your foot or arm, try a stretchy bind-off. There are a few methods but here are my favorites:

https://verypink.com/2015/03/04/simple-stretchy-bind-off/

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/jenys-surprisingly-stretchy-bind-off

Go explore some for yourself! Youtube is full of many knit and crochet videos!

Let’s see what you come up with!

Good luck,

Corinne