When grafting knitting bind off edge to bind off edge, there’s a half stitch jog that happens at the graft. This is due to the nature of a grafted row — the upper portion needs two loops to act as the base of the row above. This works perfectly with a cast on edge to a bind off edge — since the direction of knitting is the same. But when grafting bind off edge to bind off edge, the direction of knitting conflicts. The upper fabric loops have to act like two base loops, but they are whole stitches, not half loops. So you get a half stitch jog.
In stockinette this isn’t noticeable except at the edges. In wide rib patterns it can be not too noticeable. But in small multiples (1×1 rib, or seed stitch, for example) this is very noticeable. So 1×1 ribbing and seed stitch both need a different approach. Today I will show you 1×1 ribbing, next week I’ll show you seed stitch.
With 1×1 ribbing, there really is no way to graft the ribbing as presented without a very noticeable jog. So, to graft this fabric and have it appear seamless, we are going to be a bit clever.
We are going to treat it like a tubular fabric. We’ll place all the knit stitches on one dpn and all the purl stitches on another dpn — and we’ll do that for both pieces. Then, we’ll graft the knit columns to each other with “regular” kitchener stitch, and turn the fabric around and graft the other side’s knit columns to each other. When complete, it is fairly seamless, and will still have a bit of stretch like the base ribbing. The half stitch jog is still there, if you look closely, but it is not as noticeable as it would be had we not isolated the stitches and grafted all knit stitches in a line.
Here’s a video showing you this process:
I hope this was helpful!!
Come back next week for my post on grafting seed stitch — that one is pretty complicated!!
Happy Knitting!!