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My latest ‘challenge’!

I am knitting a pair of leg warmers for a friend’s Christmas present. Yes, Christmas .... the month of December was spent with dad in the hospital, so it’s as if I just skipped right over Christmas, now I’m playing ‘catch up’.

Anyway, I bought some 100% wool yarn that is really nice and the leg warmer pattern shows up beautifully. They should be nice and warm, too. This is a friend who really appreciates knitting & crochet (she crochets, but does not knit). I want the leg warmers to be extra nice and gift worthy.

The issue is the bind off. A regular bind off is not stretchy at all & the leg warmer needs to have some stretch. A ‘super stretchy’ bind off or a ‘suspended’ bind off result in a different look along the edge which I ‘could’ live with IF the edge didn’t “flare”. I hate the flared look ... want the bound off edge to be more like the cast on edge.

After scrounging through articles and videos, it looks like the “Tubular” (aka ‘Italian’) bind off is what I’m looking for. It’s a sewn rather than knitted bind off and very similar to the Kitchener stitch (ugh!), but looks terrific. Everyone who has talked about it in blogs, how to , etc. says it’s worth the trouble - I guess I’ll find out!

I’m knitting a k1 p1 ribbing swatch to practice on before I attempt it on the leg warmer I have finished (1 down, 1 more to knit) except for the bind off. I might have a glass of wine while I’m first attempting/practicing it (ha ha).

So here’s how you do it - great video btw, instructions are very clear:

Tubular Bind Off In the Round for k1, p1 Ribbing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jPMLIE7ac8

Super Bowl Sunday tomorrow - 100% rain all day, cold and “messy” for the forecast - sounds like a great day to do some knitting!