A Knitter’s Blog

This week, as I finished a sweater with a hood, I found myself wondering to myself who was the first knitter to close a hood with Kitchener Stitch grafting.

In fact, I wondered who first developed Kitchener Stitch? Is the answer in Principles of Knitting or in Mary Thomas’s Knitting Book? Was Kitchener a person? I will have to look later and let you know.

This person was very clever. By using Kitchener Stitch grafting to close the top of the hood, there is no inside seam. This is important in a hood. The hood is seen more often hanging on the back of the sweater, with the inside of the hood facing the world. A seam would not be aesthetically pleasing.

I know that many of you think that grafting is a very difficult technique. Actually, you are doing a type of knitting with a tapestry needle. What is hard is that there seem to be so many more steps than a knit stitch or a purl stitch. Interruptions can be fatal to the graft when one is first looking.

But, please let me encourage you to learn and master the Kitchener Stitch. As with any knitting technique, it takes practice. But, once you have it, you will own it. Once your fingers have learned the steps, they will never forget.

Isn’t that the miracle of knitting? First you learn with your mind, and then somehow your brain transfers the knowledge to your fingers, and then your fingers just know what to do when you ask them.

    

Filed under: Knitting, Techniques by cwulster