5 July 2013 Page 1 of 3

How to Graft, Weave, or Kitchener ANY Sequence of Stitches

Have you ever had two pieces of knitting - each with live stitches that you wanted to graft together invisibly? Normally, with stockinette stitch, it's pretty easy. Most of us are familiar with "Kitchener Stitch". But what if the pieces are 1 x 1 or 2 x 2 ribbing or some other combination of knit and purl stitches? Then it can get a bit more complicated. For those of you who already hate Kitchener stitch, you may skip this post, though it's really not all that difficult, if you follow a set of rules.

I was thinking of making my own video on how to do this, but I discovered that there are already a few fairly good videos on how to graft combinations of knit and purl stitches. (A couple of them are not that great, and even amusing, because the person actually gets pretty confused trying to demonstrate. LOL) Here’s the best one, in my opinion:

She also has a print-out on her blog, but here it is. There are really only 4 sequences that you need to know:

Abbreviations: (F = front needle, B = back needle)

Grafting a knit stitch, followed by a knit stitch:

Stockinette or garter stitch{w/’purl’ side up on both pieces}(2 k sts on F):

F: k off, p on

B: p off, k on

Grafting a knit stitch, followed by a purl stitch:

Seed stitch or ribbing (1 k st, 1 p st on F):

F: k off, k on

B: k off, p on

Grafting a purl stitch, followed by a knit stitch:

Seed stitch or ribbing (1 p st, 1 k st on F):

F: p off, p on

B: p off, k on

Grafting a purl stitch, followed by a purl stitch:

Reverse stockinette (2 p sts on F):

F: p off, k on

B: k off, p on

With this information, we can now graft any combination of knit or purl stitches perfectly!

Example of a headband I just finished knitting with live stitches, ready to be grafted together

The finished grafted headband (with no visible grafting stitches)

kimmyz says: The garter stitch would be the same as the "reverse stockinette" sequence. It's just the exact opposite as what you do for the normal Kitchener stitch. Do this for the garter st or reverse stockinette:
Reverse stockinette (2 p sts on F):
F: p off, k on
B: k off, p on

OR

julietremain says:...for grafting the garter stitch look at the link she sends you to that is knitty...at the bottom is a discussion on grafting garter stitch....

OR

k2p3-knit-onsays:

another resource to graft as you knit.

OR

gdhavens says: … when I have to graft in garter stitch, I make sure that the last row on both pieces appear to be the "purl" row (yes, I know, no purl rows in garter st, but they have the bumpy side showing on the right side), then I just Kitchener st the two pieces together, which works up for the knit row needed for both pieces.

I need to graft two bits of garter stitch together to learn first-hand which of the above is the real truth!