Jeny’s surprisingly stretchy bind off

I am a tight knitter, and a stretchy bindoff is also what I need. Jeny Steinman’s surprisingly stretchy bind off works very well for me. It works as follows:

• before a knit stitch, assuming you already have a stitch on the right needle:
  1. do a “reverse” yarn over, by wrapping the yarn in the opposite direction, i.e. from the back to the front (anti-clockwise); (2 sts on right needle);
  2. knit next stitch (3 sts on right needle);
  3. pass both bottom stitches (the initial stitch and the reverse yarn over) over the stitch closest to the tip of the right needle, as for a standard bind off
  4. repeat steps 1-3 until the end

• before a purl stitch, assuming you already have a stitch on the right needle:
  1. do a standard yarn over, i.e. from the front to the back (clockwise); (2 sts on right needle);
  2. purl next stitch (3 sts on right needle);
  3. pass both bottom stitches (the initial stitch and the reverse yarn over) over the stitch closest to the tip of the right needle, as for a standard bind off
  4. repeat steps 1-3 until the end

The above assumes that there is already a stitch on the right needle, however at the start of the row/round, there won’t be any stitch on the right needle. So to get started:

• do a standard or reverse yarn over, depending on whether the first stitch is a purl or a knit;
• work the first stitch on the left needle (2 sts on right needle);
• pass the yarn over over the top stitch on the first needle

Now you are set. There are plenty of videos out there – the one below is short 😉

It is in continental style – I am a thrower not a picker, so the only difference is that I work the stitches in that style.