Grafting (aka The Kitchener Stitch) - Tin Can Knits

Maybe your like

Grafting (formerly known as the Kitchener stitch – here’s why the name has changed) is a way to seamlessly join two sets of live stitches together. It’s often used to close up the toes of socks, for shoulder seams, or the tops of mittens, but can be used any time you need to seam two sets of live stitches together. Although it is possible to graft ribbing or purl stitches, it is most commonly used to graft two pieces stockinette stitch together.

Click here to skip to the video!

How to graft two sets of lives stitches together

Set up:

Make sure your stitches are on 2 needles and wrong sides are facing each other
Thread your tail, or new yarn for seaming, on a darning needle
Put your darning needle through the first stitch on the front needle as if to purl and pull your yarn through leaving the stitch on the needle.
Put your darning needle through the first stitch on the back needle (being careful not to put it OVER the needle) as if to knit and pull your yarn through leaving the stitch on the needle.

Repeated steps:

Put your darning needle through the first stitch on the front needle knitwise, thread your yarn through, and slip that stitch off the needle.
Put your darning through the next stitch on the front needle purlwise, thread your yarn through, and leave the stitch on the needle.
Put your darning needle through the first stitch on the back needle purlwise, thread your yarn through, and slip that stitch off the needle.
Put your darning needle through the next stitch on the back needle knitwise, thread your yarn through, and leave the stitch on the needle.Repeat steps 1-4 until 1 stitch remains on each needle, then work steps 1 and 3 once more. Break your yarn and move the tail to the inside of the work. Weave in your ends and you are done!

Enjoying this tutorial? Sign up for our email updates! We’ll let you know when new patterns or tutorials are released and share our helpful tips.

To get started you will have the wrong sides of your knitting together and your stitches on 2 needles. You will have your seaming yarn threaded through a blunt darning needle.

blog-rye-kitchener-03 — Insert your needle purwise, or as if to purl.

blog-rye-kitchener-02 — Insert your needle knitwise, or as if to knit.

Some grafting tips:

This process requires complete concentration, and I like to chant a little ditty to keep me on track: front knit off / front purl on / back purl off / back knit on… repeat

I also like to keep a little hand-written cue card with the steps in my knitting kit, to refer to when I need to graft a sock toe!

Once you have threaded the yarn through all of the stitches, you should use a little blunt needle tip to gently and carefully tighten up the stitches one at a time, before weaving in your ends. This way the tension in your graft will look just like the rest of your stitches.