Why Every Serious Knitter Should Know How to Graft in Pattern

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Grafting is one of those techniques that helps you understand the “why” of knitting in a profound way. Because you’re stripped of your usual knitting needles, you’re forced to really consider how the yarn works its way in and out in the pattern you’re working. While this makes it a profoundly satisfying technique, it can make it feel intimidating for beginners, who find themselves adrift if they make a small mistake in their grafting “formula.”

If you aren’t comfortable grafting, consider tackling the technique. Start with the basics of Kitchener stitch and work your way through grafting other simple stitch patterns like garter stitch and ribbing along with Interweave’s in-house grafting expert, Joni Coniglio.

If top-down socks are in your comfort zone and you’ve tried grafting a project like a simple tube cowl or garment straps, it’s time to learn about grafting more complex patterns like twisted rib patterns, cables, brioche, and lace. Here’s Joni to share why learning to graft in pattern is such an important skill to add to your toolknit!

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“If you are one who hates and fears weaving (or grafting, or—why?—Kitchener stitch), and tries to con others into doing it for you, now is the time to take yourself in hand. It is a talent to be gloried in; wait no longer to acquire it. Once examined closely it will reveal itself to be simple in the extreme.”

—Elizabeth Zimmermann, Knitter’s Almanac

“Don’t go into too much detail when explaining things to knitters, or they will run screaming from the room.”

—Advice from a fellow knitter, referring to my grafting tutorials

From time to time, a friend or coworker will come to me with a knitting “malfunction” and ask for my help with repairing it. It might be a completed sweater with a snag that wasn’t caught before the hole became quarter-sized; or a scarf with stitches that have started to ravel at the place where new yarn had been joined and the tail ends hadn’t been properly secured.

There is often a certain level of panic associated with many of these requests, which is understandable—no one wants to see hours of work suddenly become undone. Usually, I can alleviate this panic pretty quickly by assuring the person that the repair will be very straightforward.

I don’t mind these requests at all. In fact, I enjoy being the go-to person among various acquaintances when it comes to fixing certain types of knitting problems. My reputation as a knitting “fixer” happened organically, one of the byproducts of years of studying how to graft many different stitch patterns—from stockinette stitch to lace to brioche stitch.

How Grafting Can Help Knitters Understand Knitting Structure

Usually when we follow written or charted knitting instructions stitch by stitch, we don’t take the time to look closely at how the stitches are created. It’s only when something goes wrong and we have to re-create the stitch pattern after the fact that we are forced to think about how the stitches were formed in the first place.

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Take the Course: Lace Grafting Made Easy

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There are a few ways to create knitted stitches off the needles. Dropped stitches can be picked up by using a crochet hook to draw the resulting long strands back through the dropped loops. It’s pretty easy to restore knit and/or purl stitches in this way because you only have to draw a single strand through a loop on the hook (from back to front, or from front to back, depending on whether you are re-creating a knit stitch or purl stitch).

Fixing a hole in a knitted fabric may require manufacturing a group of stitches (perhaps with a combination of knitting a patch and grafting, depending on the size of the hole). Reconstructing a lace pattern requires a pretty good understanding of the structure of decreases and yarnovers.

Regardless of the tools and methods used to re-create the stitches in these circumstances, it’s important to have an understanding of what the stitches should look like before you can reconstruct them exactly. And one of the best ways to gain that understanding is to re-create stitches using a tapestry needle and a strand of yarn while grafting two sets of live stitches together.

What Is Grafting?

The primary purpose of grafting is to join two pieces of knitting so the seam is as invisible as possible. It’s mostly a cosmetic technique (there are other methods for joining live stitches that aren’t as invisible). And grafting requires a certain amount of practice to be able to maintain an even tension over the grafted stitches so they’ll blend in with the surrounding stitches.

The grafting steps can get pretty complex because the tapestry needle must be drawn through each loop on each piece two times and the combination of steps will be different for every stitch pattern (of which there are thousands). Add to the mix the difference between grafting stitches top to bottom and grafting them top to top—and it’s no surprise that many knitters tend to avoid grafting and opt for easier, less invisible methods.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this. Knitters have their personal preferences, which is why there is usually more than one approach to most knitting techniques.

But, as I mentioned above, there is an advantage to knowing how to graft various stitch patterns, if only because it’s a handy skill to have for those times when a repair may be necessary and there’s no one around to ask for assistance.

Simplifying the Grafting Process

However, before we jump into the details of grafting in pattern, let’s look at some ways that the grafting process can be simplified so that it doesn’t have to be quite as painful as that which some knitters have experienced.

I’m convinced that the negative feelings people often have about grafting can be attributed to these things:

• They’re afraid of dropping stitches off the two knitting needles as they graft.
• They believe they have to memorize the grafting steps, which is very difficult to do for any but the simplest stitch patterns (and impossible when grafting lace patterns).
• For some knitters, their only experience with grafting was at the finishing stage of a project (when they really just wanted to be done and move on to their next project), and that’s definitely not the best time to learn a new technique.

Fortunately, it’s possible to remove all three of these factors from the equation.

Here are some tips for making the grafting process easier:

• Leave the live stitches securely held on waste yarn instead of grafting them from the knitting needles. (Note that I’m not talking about what is sometimes called the “chimney method,” where you work several rows in the stitch pattern with the waste yarn and trace the path of the waste yarn through the working-yarn stitches. The goal is to be able to re-create the stitches “visually” and without having to rely on grafting formulas or other aids.)
• Lay both pieces flat on a table so you can see the grafted stitches as they are being formed. Seeing the grafted stitches in context (rather than with half of the stitches hidden from view) makes it easier to confirm that the stitches are being grafted correctly and that they are aligning vertically with the stitches above and below them.
• Practice grafting on a swatch (or several swatches) before attempting it on a project or before trying to make repairs. Focus on top-to-bottom grafting (grafting live stitches on one half of the swatch to the provisional cast-on row of the other half) because this will most closely approximate a knitted fabric worked in one continuous piece. (Top-to-top grafting will result in a half-stitch jog in the pattern.)
• At first, focus on creating knit and purl stitches. Once you’re comfortable with the more common stitches, you can move on to creating decreases, yarnovers, and cables.

Working a Practice Swatch

For our practice swatch, we’ll be using this pretty cable and lace pattern:

Because grafting creates two pattern rows, the first thing to do is identify two consecutive rows in the pattern to use for the grafting.

Choosing the Graft Point

Look for two rows that don’t have a lot of variation in the types of stitches because, as I mentioned above, each type of stitch requires a different sequence of grafting steps. Therefore, the more homogenous the stitches are across the row, the easier the grafting will be because there will be fewer variations in the grafting steps.

The brackets at the right side of the chart indicate six pairs of rows that contain only knit and purl stitches (no yarnovers, decreases, or cables). However, out of these six pairs, we can eliminate Rows 11/12 and Rows 33/34 because they are too close to cable crosses which can distort the cast-on row. So that leaves us with four possible pairs of rows: Rows 3/4, 7/8, 25/26, and 29/30. I chose Rows 3 and 4 for my swatch. Of these two rows, Row 3 (a right-side row) will be the grafted row and Row 4 (a wrong-side row) will be the provisional cast-on row (and it will be worked in pattern during the grafting process).

Identifying Your Grafting Steps

The grafting for Rows 3 and 4 will consist of four grafting steps for each of three stitch patterns: garter stitch, stockinette stitch, and reverse stockinette. With top-to-bottom grafting, the four grafting steps for each type of stitch (two steps on the lower piece and two steps on the upper piece) should be worked within a vertical column of stitches in this order:

Step 1 Insert the tapestry needle into the stitch on the lower piece.

Step 2 Insert the tapestry needle into the stitch on the upper piece.

Step 3 Insert the tapestry needle into the next stitch on the upper piece.

Step 4 Insert the tapestry needle into the stitch on the lower piece.

The tapestry needle is inserted into each stitch either knitwise or purlwise, depending on the type of stitch that is being created on each piece. Because the stitches aren’t sitting on the needles, the terms “knitwise” and “purlwise” have to be defined a little differently.

K = Knitwise

When grafting stitches off the needles and with the work laid out flat, “knitwise” means the tip of the tapestry needle should be facing away from you on both the lower and upper piece. On the lower piece, insert the tapestry needle into a stitch from the right side to the wrong side of the work. On the upper piece, insert the tapestry needle into a stitch from the wrong side to the right side of the work.

P = Purlwise

When grafting stitches off the needles and with the work laid out flat, “purlwise” means the tip of the tapestry needle should be facing toward you on both the lower and upper piece. On the lower piece, insert the tapestry needle into a stitch from the wrong side to the right side of the work. On the upper piece, insert the tapestry needle into a stitch from the right side to the wrong side of the work.

Grafting Example

For the Cable and Lace pattern, I’ve assigned the three four-step grafting sequences a letter to identify them. Let’s look at each of them in turn.

Sequence A

Garter Stitch

The blue yarn in the illustration shows the path the grafting yarn takes through the stitches above and below the grafted row when grafting garter stitch.

This chart shows the knitwise and purlwise steps on the lower piece and the upper piece to create garter stitch (with a purl stitch above a knit stitch). (For garter stitch patterns where the knit stitch is above the purl stitch, simply reverse the knitwise and purlwise directions.)

In the photos below, I’ve used a contrasting color to graft one stitch. The drawn lines indicate the columns of stitches that will align vertically when the stitches are grafted. Notice on the upper piece that there are two loops at the bottom of each column of stitches, one loop on the right side of the column and one on the left side of the column, with the space between the loops centered on the column. The dotted line in the sequence chart represents this space between the loops. The single stitch at the top of the column on the lower piece will be joined to these two stitches on the upper piece.

Step 1 Insert the tapestry needle purlwise into the stitch on the lower piece.

Step 2 Insert the tapestry needle knitwise into the stitch on the upper piece.

Step 3 Insert the tapestry needle purlwise into the next stitch on the upper  piece.

Step 4 Insert the tapestry needle knitwise into the stitch on the lower piece.

Here is the completed garter stitch graft, with a purl stitch above a knit stitch.

Sequence B

Stockinette Stitch

The blue yarn in the illustration shows the path the grafting yarn takes through the stitches above and below the grafted row when grafting stockinette stitch.

This chart shows the knitwise and purlwise steps on the lower piece and the upper piece to create stockinette stitch.

Step 1 Insert the tapestry needle purlwise into the stitch on the lower piece.

Step 2  Insert the tapestry needle purlwise into the stitch on the upper piece.

Step 3 Insert the tapestry needle knitwise into the next stitch on the upper  piece.

Step 4 Insert the tapestry needle knitwise into the stitch on the lower piece.

Here is the completed stockinette stitch graft, with a knit stitch above a knit stitch.

Sequence C

Reverse Stockinette Stitch

The blue yarn in the illustration shows the path the grafting yarn takes through the stitches above and below the grafted row when grafting reverse stockinette stitch.

This chart shows the knitwise and purlwise steps on the lower piece and the upper piece to create reverse stockinette stitch.

Step 1 Insert the tapestry needle knitwise into the stitch on the lower piece.

Step 2 Insert the tapestry needle knitwise into the stitch on the upper piece. Notice that this step shares a loop on the upper piece with step 3 of the previous sequence.

Step 3 Insert the tapestry needle purlwise into the next stitch on the upper  piece.

Step 4 Insert the tapestry needle purlwise into the stitch on the lower piece.

Here is the completed reverse stockinette stitch graft, with a purl stitch above a purl stitch.

The Provisional Cast-On

Once you’ve decided on your two grafting rows, cast on 35 stitches (or any multiple of  14 + 7) using the crochet chain provisional method as follows: With smooth cotton waste yarn and a crochet hook, work a chain that is a few stitches longer than the desired number of cast-on stitches. Then with the knitting needle and working yarn, pick up the exact number of cast-on stitches in the back of the chain.

The pick-up row is a wrong-side row and, in this case, corresponds to Row 4 of the chart.

At this point, the row consists of one row of working-yarn stitches with the strands that run between the cast-on stitches (indicated by the arrows in the photo) clearly visible and easily accessible on the right side of the work. (The row will be worked in pattern during the grafting process.)

If you don’t love the crochet chain cast-on method, you can cast on (using any method) with waste yarn and work a few rows in stockinette stitch, then join the working yarn and knit a wrong-side row. (Note that this method takes a little longer and the waste yarn isn’t as easy to remove.)

After the provisional cast-on row has been worked, begin the chart with the next right-side row.

Since I chose Rows 3 and 4 for the grafting rows for my swatch and the provisional cast-on row is Row 4, I started the chart with Row 5. Work the chart until the swatch is about 4″ tall, then bind off all the stitches. The half of the swatch that starts with the provisional cast-on is the upper piece.

For the lower piece, cast on 35 stitches using any method and work the chart for about 4″, ending with Row 2. Break the yarn, leaving a tail about 4 times the width of the swatch for grafting. Place the stitches on a waste yarn holder. Block both halves.

Grafting the Practice Swatch

Before the stitches can be grafted, it will be necessary to create an extra stitch at the left-hand edge of the provisional cast-on row by running the cast-on tail to the wrong side of the work. This extra stitch will be used for step 3 of the last grafting sequence.

The edge stitch at the right-hand edge of the cast-on row will be used for step 2 of the first grafting sequence.

The four-step grafting sequences can be placed in order according to Rows 3 and 4 of the Cable and Lace chart. (Since our swatch is being grafted off the needles, we’ll substitute “Lower Piece” and “Upper Piece” for “Front Needle” and “Back Needle,” respectively.)

Work Sequence A 3 times.

Work Sequence B 2 times.

Work Sequence C once.

Begin working the repeated sequence.

*Work Sequence B 9 times.

Work Sequence C once.

Work Sequence B 3 times.

Work Sequence C once.

Repeat from * until there are 15 stitches remaining on the lower piece and 16 stitches on the upper piece.

Work Sequence B 9 times.

Work Sequence C once.

Work Sequence B 2 times.

Work Sequence A 3 times.

The resulting grafted join should be completely invisible.

What about when you are grafting a lace pattern that has decreases and yarnovers on every right-side row? In that case, you will have to incorporate the lace pattern into the grafting,

Grafting a Lace Pattern with Yarnovers and Decreases on Every Right-Side Row

Incorporating decreases and yarnovers into the grafting is actually very easy to do. The same four-step grafting sequence can be used as for the simple knit/purl patterns we practiced in our swatch. However, for decreases it will be necessary to go through two or more stitches on the lower piece. For yarnovers, you will skip steps altogether.

Here are a few of the stitches you might encounter when grafting lace.

Grafting a Simple Decrease

A knit stitch above a k2tog is grafted just as for stockinette stitch, but on steps 1 and 4, go through two stitches on the lower piece.

The grafting chart will have a k2tog decrease symbol on the lower row.

A knit stitch above a k3tog is grafted just as for a knit stitch above a k2tog, but on steps 1 and 4, go through three stitches on the lower piece.

The grafting chart will have a k3tog decrease symbol on the lower row.

Grafting a Yarnover

For a knit stitch above a yarnover, work steps 2 and 3 on the upper piece as for stockinette stitch and skip steps 1 and 4 on the lower piece.

The chart will have a yarnover symbol on the lower row with no letters.

Grafting Yarnovers and Decreases with Purl Stitches

A purl stitch above a k2tog is grafted just as for garter stitch, but on steps 1 and 4, go through two stitches on the lower piece.

The grafting chart will have a k2tog decrease symbol on the lower row.

For a purl stitch above a yarnover, work steps 2 and 3 on the upper piece as for garter stitch and skip steps 1 and 4 on the lower piece.

The chart will have a yarnover symbol on the lower row with no letters.

Learn More About Grafting

For more information about grafting lace, check out my online workshop. In the workshop, I’ll show how to graft most of the stitches you will encounter with lace knitting, including:

• Stockinette stitch
• Garter stitch
• Single yarnover
• Right-slanting single decrease (k2tog)
• Left-slanting single decrease (ssk)
• Right-slanting single purl decrease (p2tog)
• Left-slanting single purl decrease (ssp)
• Double yarnover
• Centered double decrease (s2kp2)
• Two left-slanting double decreases (sk2p and sssk)
• Right-slanting double decrease (k3tog)
• Slip stitch selvedges (at the beginning and end of a row)

I hope you’ll join me!

Happy Knitting!
Joni

Originally published 6/5/2020. Updated 1/6/2021.

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