3 Needle Join

Sometimes, three needles are better than two.

I’ve recently been using a version of 3 needle bind off to attach the legs and arms in my Robot pattern. When I began to use that technique I asked if anyone knew what it was called. So far, no-one has come up with an alternative to my “3 needle bind off grafting”, but one of my readers did draw my attention to a similar technique called a 3 needle join.

A 3 needle join connects together two pieces of knitted fabric, so that one is layered on top of another. I’m using it in my new Christmas pattern to make Santa’s beard.

As you can see, the beard is layered on top of Santa’s face, but it’s not sewn on, it’s knitted on. Here’s how it works:

First, knit two separate pieces of fabric, leave both on a needle and hold them together in your left hand.

Then knit together the first stitch from both of the needles.

Keep knitting the stitches together, all along the row. Until you’ve created a flap.

And that’s it.

I think this would be a great way to add ruffles to a little girl’s cardigan or some texture to a pillow. And the technique becomes more interesting if you think about joining together pieces with different stitch patterns, joining stitches in different rows or which of the two colors you will knit the joining row with. It’s certainly a technique you’ll see me use again, it gives me lots of ideas.

Meanwhile, the Tiny Santa will be joined by a Christmas Fairy and the pattern for both of them will be tested in the next few weeks.

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