New Year's Knitting

So, here I am, 11;30 am, in Anguillara Sabazia (near Rome) at my friend Consy's place, after a breakfast of espresso and pandoro. I have just started yesterday a new vest to substitute the one my mom felted to death. I am reworking it in a better yarn, a lovely undyed organic Argentinian Merino in a cool dark chocolate hue, plus I am planning a few improvements and design alterations on the basic outline I planned for the first. A few things still bother me like how to avoid that unsightly gap that forms when you bind of in the middle of the row, right there between the last stitch you knitted and the first you bound off.
So I have this huge amount of food from last night's night festive dinner with friends (lots of vegetables so lots of fibers) that awaits its exit and I grab a copy of The Knitter magazine Consy borrowed me and head to the toilet and, while sitting there, BAM! The solution springs into life in the form of a suggestion from the magazine's editorial assistant Jen Storey: knit the last stitch before you bind off twice (front and back) and use the second loop thus formed to wrap the first stitch to be bound off (by passing this loop over the stitch before you bind it off). Ok, this knitterly year seems to be starting on a good, serendipitous, vibe!