Category: Techniques

Today’s topic for Friday Finishing is a Horizontal to Vertical Seam.

Here is a video tutorial I made on working the seam:

The one key to getting this seam perfect is to measure your gauges and determine your ratio BEFORE starting your seam. Many patterns will tell you what ratio to use – but your ratio may very well be different. So you should always measure and determine your own ratio for a perfect seam. The same goes for many references for this seam – many of them give a straight 3 to 4 ratio as standard. This WILL NOT always work. It is best to measure your own knitting and determine your ratio for your project.

Once you know your ratio, the steps for working the seam are:

1. Find the centers of each piece. Thread a tapestry needle with the seaming thread.
2. Starting at the center of the horizontal piece, bring the tapestry needle up (from back to front) out of the center of the stitch nearest the center of the piece. Use the row directly below the bind off edge. Leave a long tail for the second half of the seam.
3. Move to the vertical piece and starting at the center there, catch one (or two) bars. You are catching the bars between the selvedge stitch and the next stitch. It is best to leave a whole selvedge stitch in the seam – do not go into the middle of the selvedge stitch.
4. Insert the needle into the center of the same stitch on the horizontal piece, then come up out of the center of the next stitch over.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 across to the end, maintaining your particular ratio for your gauges.
6. Thread the other side of the seaming thread to work the second half of the seam. Insert, from back to front, the tapestry needle into the center of the next stitch.
7. Reversing your ratio, work the seam across the other side in the same manner.
8. Pull the seaming thread tight (but not too tight.)

Next week (the last of my Friday Finishing series for a while) we’ll cover picking up neckband stitches – a technique that combines many of the methods we’ve already covered.

Until then, Happy Knitting!

Today’s topic for Friday Finishing is Kitchener Grafting in Garter.

Here is a video tutorial I made on working the Kitchener Graft in Garter:

This method ONLY works on garter stitch fabric. The resulting grafted row will be a hybrid row of knit stitches below and purl stitches above.

You must end your knitting in a specific way before you can graft garter stitch. One piece must end with a knit row presenting on the RS, and the other piece must end with a purl row presenting on the RS. (So, end one piece having worked a RS knit row, and one piece having worked a WS knit row.)

Then, the steps for working Kitchener Stitch in Garter are:

1. Position the work with the wrong sides facing each other. You may begin on either the front or the back needle.
2. Work the set up step on needle 1. (Purl and leave on.)
3. Work the set up step on needle 2. (Purl and leave on.)
4. Needle 1 again, work ‘knit off, purl on’.
5. Needle 2, work ‘knit off, purl on’.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have one stitch left on each needle.
7. Work ‘knit off’ on needle 1.
8. Work ‘knit off’ on needle 2.

The keys to working this graft well are:

1.  You must have the same number of stitches on each needle.
2. Keep the tapestry needle and yarn UNDER the knitting needles throughout the process.
3. Work loosely as you go across.
4. After you have worked the graft, tighten up across the row to get the graft at the same tension as the rest of the knitting.

Next week we’ll switch seaming techniques and cover working a horizontal to vertical seam.

Until then, Happy Knitting!

Today’s topic for Friday Finishing is Kitchener Grafting in Ribbing.

Here is a video tutorial I made on working the Kitchener Graft in Ribbing:

This method works anywhere that the grafted row needs to look the same as the rows on either side of the graft – such as stockinette, ribbing, other knit/purl patterns. The resulting grafted row will be the same stitches as the above and below rows. This method will NOT work where you need the grafted row to be different – such as garter, seed stitch, or other patterns that change every row.

Keep in mind, when grafting live stitches, the grafted row will be offset from the row above by 1/2 of a stitch. Essentially just like the horizontal seam of two bound off edges.

The steps for working Kitchener Stitch:

1. Position the work with the wrong sides facing each other. You may begin on either the front or the back needle.
2. Work the set up step on needle 1. (Opposite On.)
3. Work the set up step on needle 2. (Opposite On.)
4. Needle 1 again, work ‘Same Off, Opposite On’.
5. Needle 2, work ‘Same Off, Opposite On’.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have one stitch left on each needle.
7. Work ‘Same Off’ on needle 1.
8. Work ‘Same Off’ on needle 2.

The keys to working this graft well are:

1.  You must have the same number of stitches on each needle.
2. Keep the tapestry needle and yarn UNDER the knitting needles throughout the process.
3. Work loosely as you go across.
4. After you have worked the graft, tighten up across the row to get the graft at the same tension as the rest of the knitting.

Next week we’ll cover working the Kitchener Stitch graft in Garter. The steps will be a bit different, since the row has to be half knit and half purl in order to maintain the pattern!

Until then, Happy Knitting!

Today’s topic for Friday Finishing is Kitchener Grafting in Stockinette.

Here is a video tutorial I made on working a Kitchener Graft:

This method works anywhere that the grafted row needs to look the same as the rows on either side of the graft – such as stockinette, ribbing, other knit/purl patterns. The resulting grafted row will be the same stitches as the above and below rows. This method will NOT work where you need the grafted row to be different – such as garter, seed stitch, or other patterns that change every row.

Keep in mind, when grafting live stitches, the grafted row will be offset from the row above by 1/2 of a stitch. Essentially just like the horizontal seam of two bound off edges.

The steps for working Kitchener Stitch:

1. Position the work with the wrong sides facing each other. You may begin on either the front or the back needle.
2. Work the set up step on needle 1. (Opposite On.)
3. Work the set up step on needle 2. (Opposite On.)
4. Needle 1 again, work ‘Same Off, Opposite On’.
5. Needle 2, work ‘Same Off, Opposite On’.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have one stitch left on each needle.
7. Work ‘Same Off’ on needle 1.
8. Work ‘Same Off’ on needle 2.

The keys to working this graft well are:

1.  You must have the same number of stitches on each needle.
2. Keep the tapestry needle and yarn UNDER the knitting needles throughout the process.
3. Work loosely as you go across.
4. After you have worked the graft, tighten up across the row to get the graft at the same tension as the rest of the knitting.

Next week we’ll cover working the Kitchener Stitch graft in Ribbing. (It will very similar, since you use these same steps!)

Until then, Happy Knitting!

Today’s topic for Friday Finishing is Horizontal to Horizontal seaming with stair steps.

Here is a video tutorial I made on working a horizontal seam with stair stepped pieces:

The keys to working a good horizontal seam when dealing with stair steps are:

1. In bottom piece, come up out of the center of the stitch (the center of the V).
2. In top piece, encase the legs of the stitch (both legs of the V.)
3. Seam directly below and above the bind off edge. Seaming farther from the edge will add unnecessary bulk.
4. At stair steps, on the bottom piece come up out of the next whole stitch – even though it is 2 rows down. And then encase the legs of the next whole stitch on the top piece, even though it is 2 rows up. This will close up the holes and hide the stair steps.

Next week we’ll cover working the Kitchener Stitch graft in stockinette stitch fabric.

Until then, Happy Knitting!