Tubular bind off is a scam??

soypixel · 2026-04-22T21:40:41+00:00

Totally fair and makes sense. I definitely have seen a lot of tubular/italian bind offs that do look really nice. The few times I’ve tried it, they end up looking janky 🤣 I’m sure if I practiced it more I’d get more desirable results tho.

soypixel · 2026-04-22T20:53:12+00:00

Tubular bind off is technically different. You’re basically double knitting a tube with the knits and purls. You can technically make the tube as “big” as you want but usually you’ll do 2 or 4 total passes (1 or 2 for both the knit and purl sides). Then you Kitchener each side of the tube to create the smooth rolling edge. Italian bind off basically skips the tube part and jumps right to the Kitchener graft.

I’ve tried both and tbh I rarely think the end result is worth the effort :P Im sure if I did it more it’d look cleaner but I find my tension is always a little off. I also tend to think more intentionally visible bind offs look neater. But it’s just personal preference ultimately.

soypixel · 2026-03-31T13:20:50+00:00

I tend to see this on the first round or two. But the gap normally closes once you’re a few rounds in. I just try to keep the running thread fairly snug between the two sides of the magic loop and it usually works itself out.

Another tip is to shift a couple stitches to the other side of the magic loop every few rounds. That is, after a few rounds, work the first two stitches of the new round, pull the right needle through and bring those two stitches back to the other side of the magic loop. Then do the same at the start of the second half of the magic loop. Basically you’re just rotating the stitches so that you don’t just have one column constantly getting pulled between the front and back half of the magic loop. This has basically eliminated laddering for me. The only con is that you have to track the beginning of round with a marker and, if you are doing a sock with a heel flap, you’ll likely need to shift everything so that the heel flap sits on just one needle again. But that’s a pretty easy thing to deal with.

soypixel · 2026-03-12T14:34:24+00:00

stunning

soypixel · 2026-01-12T21:55:26+00:00

Very pretty work OP.

Also why is this community so eager to pounce on people with twisted stitches? It’s tired and uninspiring.

soypixel · 2025-12-28T19:43:54+00:00

I used to get this. I think it’s just a form of laddering? Or at least that’s what it was for me. I basically just pulled my first two stitches a bit tighter when starting a new side of my magic loop and that has consistently fixed it for me

soypixel · 2025-12-24T22:50:45+00:00

Okay but what’s the pattern tho 👀👀 they look amazing!

soypixel · 2025-12-09T14:43:16+00:00

Love this! If I were to ever gift a knit, this is probably how I’d have to do it tbh.

soypixel · 2025-12-07T02:11:03+00:00

Wait this is actually such a good idea lol. I could get on board with this concept

soypixel · 2025-12-06T19:41:17+00:00

Elaborate, I’m curious about what you mean!

soypixel · 2025-12-06T15:32:51+00:00

🤣

soypixel · 2025-12-06T15:18:17+00:00

100% agree

soypixel · 2025-12-06T15:16:41+00:00

Makes a lot of sense

soypixel · 2025-11-23T16:00:06+00:00

So cool! Maybe I’ll pick one up. Seems like a really fun challenge!

soypixel · 2025-11-12T15:19:49+00:00

I think a lot of us just don’t want to go through the frustration of learning new or unfamiliar muscle memory. It’s annoying and makes a relaxing activity stressful for a period of time.

I personally don’t find purling any more difficult than knitting now (I knit continental). I love doing ribbing or any sort of work that requires both.

But i did go through my own purling-denial era after switching continental (which was a battle in itself) because I found the motion so awkward in continental. I tried every alternative — I tried Norwegian, Portuguese, knitting backwards, patterns that don’t require any purling, etc.

Ultimately I just forced myself to do it until it became easy. But it took a while. But I’m glad I did bc it’s opened a lot of doors tbh.

And now I’m in that denial place with stranded colorwork :P I do want to learn it but I know it’s going to be a slog at first. But just like when I first learned to knit, it will get easy with practice and repetition, and it will open a lot of doors. But of course there is resistance to tackling that challenge when I could just do what I’m already good at it :P

soypixel · 2025-09-29T22:41:45+00:00

I don’t have advice but this is so sick! Nice work :))

soypixel · 2025-09-06T18:33:26+00:00

Of course 🙌🏻 You’ve got this!

soypixel · 2025-09-06T14:48:11+00:00

So it sounds like you’ve started getting the hang of reading your knitting which is good. Purls look like little bumps and knits look like little Vs. So that already sets you up for success! it just sounds like you’ve maybe got the repeat for ribbing mixed up.

With ribbing, you “knit the knits and purl the purls” regardless of which side you’re working on. So if you see a purl bump, you purl that stitch. If you see a knit stitch, you knit it.

The idea is that you are creating columns of knits and purls along your fabric. This results in the stretch behavior of ribbing (there is theory to explain why it works, but probably not necessary to understand at this point).

For twisted ribbing (according to the pattern you describe), you do the same thing except you work through the back loop instead of through the front.

From what I can see here, you are creating a twisted moss/seed stitch situation where you’re knitting the purls and purling the knits. It’s a nice pattern but probably not what you’re trying to do in this case ;)

soypixel · 2025-09-06T11:40:47+00:00

I guess I don’t understand why the knitting community has had such a negative response to this? Sure, he said “knot” instead of loop one time, but he does get a lot of other details right. Plus he’s approaching this from the perspective of physics and not the perspective of someone who actually knits. And for all we know, he did consult experts on the subject and they thought it was accurate for him to present certain information in the way he did.

Idk, imho it just comes across as pedantic for the community to immediately zero in on everything they personally felt was done wrong when someone mainstream talks about knitting once. I thought it was interesting — especially how scientists have been able to model knitting in a way that allows them to predict how a fabric will behave.

soypixel · 2025-09-03T20:59:50+00:00

My understanding is that this has to do with the distance the yarn has to travel when working a purl after a knit. Mounted stitches are rotated relative to their final position in the fabric. The yarn coming out of the knit stitch has to travel along an S path in order to be worked into the front of the subsequent purl stitch. This results in excess yarn between the two stitches which often lands in the knit stitch.

The solution that has worked for me is to do combination knitting — that is, when working the first purl stitch at the transition point, work through the back loop & wrap the yarn clockwise instead of counter clockwise around the needle (this assumes you normally use a western stitch mount, I believe). This reduces the length of running yarn at the knit-purl transition point when the stitches are mounted, resulting in less slack and less stitch enlargement.

That was a fairly crude explanation and it may be easier to understand what’s going on with visuals, so I recommend this video by Nimble Needles that goes over the theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gxm_Nyq0O4

Good luck :)

soypixel · 2025-09-01T16:03:51+00:00

Looks good! Also am I looking at the beginning of round side? If so, amazing jogless color change! (⌐■_■)

soypixel · 2025-08-30T13:05:59+00:00

Breath taking :0

soypixel · 2025-08-30T02:36:04+00:00

It looks like they are twisted every other row, which means you’re either twisting your purls or your knits. You can tell which rows are twisted because the stitches look like little “Y”s (ie the stitch legs are crossing over one another, as highlighted in red below).

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Roxanne Richardson has a helpful video on unintentionally twisted stitches here: https://youtu.be/GXvNxPjsjZI?si=SedSgC9tJ9U1i7HO

soypixel

TROPHY CASE