Knit Off Purl Then Purl Off Knit

Grafting, aka Kitchener's stitch can be so intimidating. I know that I was intimidated by it when I first heard of it. But I was willing to give it a try. Give it a try I did, and thoroughly mucked it up. So, I did what I am sure a lot of us do, I avoided trying it again.

You can't make socks without Kitchener's stitch. Well, okay, you can make them but they will either be pointy as you decrease your way down to two stitches or they will have a big clump of gathered stitches right at the toe tips. Neither of those versions really do us much good.

I tried this grafting business once again. I started with matching number of stitches on both needles yet somewhere along the way I had two more stitches on the back needle than the front needle. Hmmm... let's adjust by working something twice but not really twice since we have to decrease so grab this stitch and not work that stitch but we needed that so back to working twice but now I have too many on the other needle. Yep.

Then it clicked. Sometimes that happens to me. Okay, that happens a lot. I just can't "see" what I'm supposed to be doing or I just can't keep track of what I'm doing and since I don't really know why I'm doing what I'm doing when following instructions I just blindly forge ahead. Sometimes I can go years without knowing what I'm doing but doing it anyway. And then it will suddenly click. It's kind of like when we go from black and white to color in The Wizard of Oz.

Kitchener's Stitch

Needle 1 will be front needle and Needle 2 will be back needle.

First, prepare for Kitchener’s stitch by sliding tapestry needle purlwise into first stitch on needle 1 then knitwise into first stitch on needle two.  Be careful to keep the working yarn from sneaking up over the needles as you work. Now we begin.

Insert tapestry needle knitwise into first stitch on Needle 1 and push it off Needle 1 then insert tapestry needle into second stitch purlwise.

Now insert tapestry needle into first stitch purlwise on Needle 2 and push it off Needle 2 then into second stitch purlwise.

Let’s go back to needle 1 and insert tapestry needle knitwise into stitch 2 and push it off needle 1 then purlwise into stitch 3. Now needle 2’s turn. Insert tapestry needle purlwise into stitch 2 and push it off needle 2 then knitwise into stitch 3.

See the pattern? For stockinette stitch there’s an easy mantra I recite, “knit off purl then purl off knit”. It’s technically knitwise and purlwise but saying “knit off purl then purl off knit” kept it straight for me. The closest needle, Needle 1 will always be knit off purl and the farthest needle, Needle 2, will always be purl off knit for stockinette stitch joins.

It's kind of like when we go from black and white to color in The Wizard of Oz. 

That's the mantra: knit off purl then purl off knit.

Repeat that and it will all go from black and white to color. This is only for stockinette but it's the best place to start.