Nondaily Tip No. 8: stretchy cast off

You have knitted a shawl. You have knitted top down.

You have knitted a gorgeous shawl.

It could be as gorgeous as this.

IMG_1987b

Or even more gorgeous (difficult to imagine but yes it could be).

You don’t want to ruin this with a cast off that is too tight or constrictive.
You need a STRETCHY CAST OFF, a cast off that looks neat and allows for the border to block and swing properly.

This is how you do it:

ready_tostart_0333

1. Ready to get started.

(Or as it’s known more technically, begin to prepare to get started.)

(I’m using two colours here but this is by the by. Or possibly by the bye? I’m digressing.)

k2_first_0334

2. K2.

Yes, just knit two stitches in the most normal way.

sl2_toLN_first_0336

3. Sl2 back to LN and …

(Slip your 2 stitches to Left Needle…)

k2togtbl_first_0338

4. …k2togtbl.

(…then knit them together through the back loop).

You have just cast off 1 stitch. Good!

Then…

k1more_0343

5. K1.

(Yes, just so.)

sl2_toLN__No2_0346

6. Again, sl2 to LN and…

k2togtbl_No2_0348

7. …k2togtbl

You are doing well!

Now repeat Steps 5 – 7 until all stitches are cast off.

After a few repeats it will look like this, or something like this, nice and stretchy (try it!) AND neat:

unterwegs_4kvar_0351

If you want to get fancy you can add little picots along the way, as I did on my Mysteriosa Shawl.

picot_done_0393

Or not.

But that’s another Nondaily Tip from this Nonblog. Watch this space.

Yarn used in photos: Fyberspates Vivacious DK, a lovely, sproingy Superwash merino.

 

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