The Gathered Bind-off

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This method for binding off is a great way to finish a vertically knit bottom up Hat without any kind of shaping. This makes it ideal for beginner knitters, who may not have learnt decrease methods yet, but it also means it can be used on a Hat where the stitch pattern may not work well with various shaping methods.

Do bear in mind that when working a gathered bind-off, the body of the Hat will need to be much longer than it would usually be when starting the crown shaping. On a standard vertically knit beanie, the crown accounts for roughly one-third of the overall length of a Hat, so your Hat will want to be at least a third longer before finishing. Furthermore, the nature of the gather creates some bulk, even with the modified version, and that bulk eats some of that length, so you’ll want to knit for longer to accommodate that, too.

I learnt this method from the loom knitting community and it’s just as helpful for hand knit Hats!

1) Once you’ve reached the desired length of your Hat, bearing in mind that you’ll want to knit for longer than a Hat that may have a shaped crown, you’re ready to start the gather.

2) Cut the yarn, leaving a yarn tail of approximately twice the circumference of your Hat.

3) Thread the yarn tail onto a tapestry needle and insert it into the next stitch on your left-hand knitting needle.

4) Continue to do this for all of the stitches on your needle – insert the tapestry needle into each one.

5) Once you have a few stitches on your tapestry needle you can drop them off the knitting needle. You can speed things up by inserting the tapestry needle through a few stitches at a time, although do make sure you’re not splitting the yarn, as that’ll cause a problem when you come to do the gather.

6) Once all of the stitches have been threaded onto the tapestry needle, you can remove the knitting needle.

7) Gently pull the yarn tail so that it starts to gather.

8) You may need to encourage the stitches along as it gathers, as sometimes the stitches can get a little stuck and bunch up if you try to gather too quickly.

9) Tighten the gather as much as you can to close the hole. Heavier gauge yarns, or lots of stitches, may mean that you won’t close the hole completely.

10) Take the yarn tail through the centre of the hole and secure it to prevent it loosening. Then weave in all ends and block as required.

Support

If you’ve a question about this technique, pop it in a comment below or visit the forum! I’m unable to offer help with patterns or techniques via email. I do hope you find this a useful way to finish a bottom up Hat!