The Nine Days of Knitting - Tutorial and Knitalong - Day 9 - Finishing Up

Well, today is Day 9 - the big day!  We're all done!

So, after yesterday, your scarf should look like this:

Pretty nifty!  So now we need to bind off (sometimes it's called casting off - like casting on - just in case you see it in a pattern that way, don't freak out).

Start by knitting the first stitch.

Next, knit the second stitch.  Nothing too hard, right?

Ok, so this is the tricky part.  Using your left needle, slide the first stitch up and over the second stitch.  Here's a photo when I was near the end that shows it best.

The left needle has already pulled the stitch up and over, so now you can slide it off the right needle.  Like this:

Here's another view:

Now slip

And slide

Knit the next stitch, then slip and slide, all the way across until you are down to one stitch.  Use your needle to make that stitch a big loop, then remove your needle.  Pull a yarn loop through your big stitch, and cut the center of the loop you just pulled through.  Now pull tight.  You are done!  If you'd like, make another knot to secure your work.  I do this just because I'm pretty sure these will get washed in a wash machine.  You never know if someone else will think to use the gentle cycle or not.

So now you have this amazing scarf that's all done, but it has all these strings hanging all over it.  What do you do?  Use a yarn needle or smaller crochet hook, pull the ends through the loops of the stitches on the back side.  That's the side where you can really see the color change.  On the front, it should go straight from red to navy.  On the back, there will be some double-colored loops.  That's the side you want your ends to be woven into.  Weave the ends into the loops on the edges (where we did all those knit 2's).  Trim if necessary.

When I make anything that's a variation on this pattern (technically, it's a dishcloth), I also knot the bottom end where I started.  I pull a loop through what I call the base loop.

I also make a knot (or 2) for the same reason I make sure to knot the top, and I make sure to weave in the ends.

So now that you're done, here's what you need to do next.  Go to the official Scarves for Special Olympics website for directions on packaging and mailing.  Pay special attention to the deadlines for each individual state!


Congratulations!