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Grafting or Kitchener Stitch

Grafting, or Kitchener stitch, us a method of seaming two rows of live stitches in a completely invisible manner. During the process, will be forming a row of knit stitches. This page shows you how to do it.

I grafted the toes on Rosie's sock and Teddy's Headband. In the photo above, I stuck my hand in the sock and photographed the row of stitches I created by grafting. Nearly invisible, huh? It's also less bulky and more comfortable than using a different type of seam in the toe.

Good luck.
Lucia, The Knitting Fiend

Yarn & Tools required:

A strand or yarn.
Tapestry needle.
Scissors.

How to Graft (Kitchener Stitch)

Prepare:

When knitting the sock, take the stitches off on waste yarn. Break sock yarn with a long strand that you can use for seaming.
Lightly press the toe of the sock to flatten the seams.
Unravel all but the last row of waste yarn. Trim the waste yarn to get it out of your way.
Thread the tapestry needle with the long strand of sock yarn.
Pinch the two sides of the toe opening between hour fingers with the live stitches facing up. Hold the fabric with the long strand of yarn on your right (Lefties can transpose all right/left instructions.)
Unravel roughly 5 stitches of waste yarn on the front and back.

Graft:

Stick the tapestry needles through the first live stitch from the right side of the toe opening. (It doesn't matter if you start with a stitch in front or back side of the toe opening. ) Draw the stitch through from purl side to knit side, that is from the "back" to the "front".) Draw yarn through. Examine either one of the two nearby pictures: Notice a strand of yarn has been pulled from the back to the front of a stitch..
Now stick the tapestry needle through the right hand stitch on the opposite side of toe. The needle should enter from the knit (front) side and come out the purl (back) side.
Before pulling yarn the stitch, stick the tapestry needle through the back, (purl), side of the adjacent stitch. See the photos. The needle is going in through the front (knit) side of the right hand stitch and the back (purl) side of the adjacent stitch.
Pull through yarn and tighten to create a knit stitch whose tension matches the rest of the knitting. (You may wait and tighten several stitches at a time. Once you get a hang of this, you can wait and tighten 3-4 stitches at a time. I usually tighten while the needle is stuck through two live stitches as shown in the picture. This minimizes the risk of dropping stitches.)
Repeat steps 2-3 until all live stitches are used up.
Tidy up and anchor loose ends and trim thread.