Alternating Cable Cast On for Perfect Ribbing

Today I'll show you what it means to cast off or bind off in pattern. You'll usually see this instruction in a knitting pattern when you're casting off in ribbing or really any kind of knit-purl combination stitch. The purpose is to create a neat cast off edge that kind of blends into the stitch pattern that you've knit. So first I'll show you how to cast off in pattern with ribbing, then I'll go over how to cast off in seed stitch. So let's start with this 2x2 rib. So normally when we cast off, you would knit two stitches, so knit this stitch and then pass the first stitch over the second stitch. But when we're casting off in pattern, what we actually do is when we knit the cast off stitches, we're knitting them as if we're knitting the next row in our stitch pattern. So in this case, we've got 2x2 rib, and the next row of 2x2 rib would be purling these two stitches, right? So I would purl the next two stitches, as if this were my next row of 2x2 rib, and then I would take my first stitch and bring it over the second stitch. And that's my first cast off stitch. Now the next stitch is a knit stitch, so I'm going to knit into it, which is what we would do in 2x2 rib, and then I'm going to bring the first stitch over the second stitch. There we go. Next stitch is a knit stitch, so in 2x2 rib, we knit the knits, purl the purls, so there we go. Bring the first stitch over the second stitch. And next stitch is a purl stitch, so we would purl it. So I'm working this cast off row as if I were knitting a regular old row of 2x2 rib. I'm purling the purl stitches and knitting the knit stitches. And then bring the first stitch over the second stitch. So that's what it means to cast off in pattern. Your cast off row is basically just following the next row of your pattern. So if you need a little bit more instruction on how to cast off, you can check out this video that I've made, which goes into a lot more instruction about casting off. So now I've just got one stitch left on my cast off, but I just wanted to show you the cast off edge, which I did in pattern, and you can see that the cast off kind of merges nicely into the 2x2 rib. And here's a little comparison of just a regular cast off with the casting off in pattern. And you can see which cast off melts into the stitch pattern better, right? I'd say it's the casting off in pattern that looks nicer. So I wanted to do another example in seed stitch, so let's get into it. So when we're working our cast off row, remember that we're going to work the row as if we were working the next row in our pattern. So with seed stitch, we knit the purls and we purl the knits. So let's work our cast off row. Here we've got a knit stitch, so I'm going to purl into it as per the stitch pattern for seed stitch. Here we go. The next stitch is a purl stitch, so I'm going to knit into it. And now we've got two stitches on our right needle, and I'm going to insert the needle into my first stitch and bring it over the second stitch. The next stitch is a knit stitch, so with seed stitch, we would purl into it, bring the yarn back, and then bring our first stitch over the second stitch. So we are working the cast off row as if we were working the next row in our seed stitch pattern. So here is a purl stitch, so we're going to knit into it. And the first stitch goes over the second stitch. This is a knit stitch, so we are going to purl into it. So that's all you need to remember when you are casting off in pattern. Work the cast off row as if you were working the next row in your stitch pattern, whatever stitch pattern that might be. So after casting off in pattern, my cast off edge looks like this. It's nice and neat. So here's a comparison of seed stitch cast off in pattern and seed stitch cast off normally with just knit stitches. Alrighty, so that's all there is to casting off in pattern. I'm Davina from sheepandstitch.com, thanks for watching, happy knitting, and I'll see you in the next video. Bye!