[cristeen]

I'm ready to finish up a piece I'm working on, and have done about 3 inches of 2x2 ribbing in decreasingly small needles for the waistband. I've tried several cast-offs and wound up ripping each of them, because they stretch out the ribbing... anybody have any suggestions for me? Do I need to do a row of stockinette stitch before casting off? I want the cast-off to be stretchy, obviously, since it's on the waistband, but the ribbing still needs to be able to hold it up.

 

[Think of Winter]

Cristeen, did you try casting off in pattern?

 

[cristeen]

Yeah, and it still wound up stretching out the ribbing.

 

[Think of Winter]

It sounds like it's your bind off technique more than the method you're using. Binding off in pattern gives a neater look, but really doesn't affect the tension. Are you a new knitter, or is there something unusual about your yarn? 2x2 ribbing is pretty standard. Have you tried snugging up the loops as you bind them off? I think more often people have issues with the b/o being too tight.

Could you post a pic?