Binding off and weaving in ends.. My first item finished!

Today I finished my first scarf.

I've been away for a few days, so decided that to learn how to bind off and weave in the ends was best left until I came back.

I wasn't sure even looking through my stitch n' bitch book the way to bind of. It seemed quite complicated but once I started it's actually quite easy.

Firstly make sure you leave enough yarn at the end. You will need at least double the length of yarn to how wide your knitted item is to bind off.

When you're ready to bind off, make sure you are at the end of a row. Knit 2 stitches as if you were starting a new row. Then, lift the loop of the first stitch you put on the needle over your second stitch. Then knit another stitch and again lift the loop over the new stitch. You will notice that your work is slowly coming off (in a good way). When you get to the final stitch, cut your yarn and bring the end through the loop. Pull this. With the binding off keep the stitches fairly loose as it'll make it easier to bring the loop over the stitches.


I used the following youtube video's to help me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgwi3xgZzlk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7adQs1x7b8

To weave in your ends is not hard. Again there appears to be a number of different methods. I've seen using a crochet needle, wool needles and weaving in whilst knitting. I waited until the end. I don't have any type off wool or crochet needle so if you're really stuck I used a safety pin. I stuck the end of the wool through the curled end and weaved my ends through the wool using that. It's worked really well.
Again there are lots of different video's on youtube which show you how to weave in your ends. All you need to do is bring the yarn through the stitches you have done so it blends in with the rest of the item.
Here is the video I used:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VKwq7kXfAA

My first finished knitted scarf looks like this: