There comes a time in every knitter’s life when they have to make a decision: can I squeeze one more repeat out of the yarn I have left or do I bind off now? The latter option promises safety and security from that most unpleasant of sensations: running out of yarn halfway through the bind off. But the former holds out the satisfaction of using up as much yarn as possible — particularly tantalising when using a treasured skein of yarn and also pleasing in its avoidance of unnecessary leftovers. What’s a knitter to do?

Well today, I’m here to save you from having to make such a choice with a very simple tip. No scales, no tools required, all it takes is a little knot!

Here’s my Rib Lace Scarf by Jeanette Sloan from MDK Field Guide No. 15 Open. As you can see, I’ve not got much of my glowing skein of Fyberspates Vivacious DK remaining … I’m not sure if it’ll stretch to another few repeats + bind off or not. So here’s what you do:

Unravel your remaining yarn and loosely tie a knot half way along the strand, as shown in the picture above. Then you knit your next pair of rows.

If you reach the knot as you are working that next pair of rows, you know that you won’t have enough yarn to work that pair of rows AND the final row plus bind off.

But I didn’t reach the knot (hurrah, hurrah!) and it looked like there might be enough for another pair of rows plus bind off…

…so I then untied the knot and retied it half way along the remaining yarn.

You then repeat the process. Knit your pair of rows – if you reach the knot, undo the row(s) back to where you were when you tied the knot. If you don’t reach the knot, you know that you will have enough yarn for the final row, plus bind off.

After working another pair of rows, I nearly reached the knot, but not quite (see above), so I now know that I have just enough yarn to complete the final row and bind off. Untie the knot and complete your scarf, safe in the knowledge that you couldn’t have worked any more rows and no yarn is wasted.

And there you have it! A quick and stress-free way to make sure you win at yarn chicken every single time. I think you’ll agree it’s knot too hard (couldn’t resist!) And it works, of course, whether your pattern repeat is two rows, as in my example, or longer … as long as you can finish the repeat before you reach the knot, you should be fine. And while it’s probably pretty obvious, it’s also worth mentioning that this trick works best when your row length is constant (so, maybe don’t count on it when you’re working a cresent or triangle shawl).