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tutorial – Russian grafting garter stitch

Russian grafting is a method of joining live knitting stitches together. It’s an alternative to the Kitchener stitch and is a quick and easy method for finishing off your knitted piece. In this post, I’ll show you the specifics for Russian grafting garter stitch. Of course, this method has pro’s and cons when compared with the Kitchener stitch, which I’ll go into below.

Pro’s

When used to join garter stitch pieces together, the seam blends in with the garter stitch ridges.
No working yarn is necessary, this makes this method, not a “true” grafting method.
When grafting with this method, the stitches of the pieces to be joined align better than with Kitchener stitch grafting. This can be desirable when using patterning.

Con’s

Since Russian grafting is worked by pulling existing stitches through other stitches, there is no way to adjust the tension of the graft.
The seam will be visible if it’s used on a very open lace fabric, even if it’s garter-stitch-based.

Materials used

Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, here in the colors 125 Spearmint Green and 155 Vintage Pink.

A crochet hook in the same size or slightly smaller than your knitting needles. For example this * Pony Aluminum Crochet Hook in size 4 mm.

Russian grafting step-by-step

I’ve read that Russian grafting is a seaming technique commonly seen in patterns for traditional Orenburg shawls with garter-stitch-based lace edgings. For this reason, in this tutorial, I’m showing you how it’s done with the help of a swatch of an applied garter stitch lace border. It’s a miniature version of the edging on my Full Fade Hap.

Since I didn’t have the time to knit it all around the center square I just did the provisional cast-on followed by one repeat on the right in the below picture. On the left, you can see a repeat of the edging plus turning the corner minus the very last row, just as in my Full Fade Hap. The reason I’m omitting this last row is that we otherwise have a row of purl bumps on each needle. When grafted together, this gives a very bulky and visible seam. Without that last row, the grafted seam is much less notable.

Preparation

First is undoing the provisional cast-on on the right piece and placing it on a knitting needle, starting at the body side of the waste yarn. It isn’t visible in this picture, but that’s where the waste yarn chain is, indicating the point where it can be undone easily. Make sure to place the stitches correct (not twisted) on the needle.

Please note that in this example the provisional cast-on was 15 stitches (needed for the lace patterning to start correctly), while there are 16 live stitches on the left (15 from the border and 1 remaining live body stitch). To solve this I picked up an extra stitch at the shawl body side.

Russian grafting garter stitch preparation

I’ve turned everything 90 degrees clockwise. Make sure the right side is facing and the yarn tail is on the left side. Now we’re ready to start the actual Russian graft.

Set-up

1. Back needle: Insert the crochet hook purlwise through the first stitch on the needle ….

2. … and slide it off the needle.

Russian grafting garter stitch, set-up step 2

3. Front needle: Insert the crochet hook purlwise through the first stitch on the needle and slide it off the needle. This is similar to what you did in steps 1 and 2.

Russian grafting garter stitch, set-up step 3

4. Now pull this second stitch through the first stitch on the hook, so only 1 loop remains on the crochet hook.

Russian grafting garter stitch, set-up step 4

Repeat

1. Back needle: Insert the crochet hook knitwise through the first stitch and slide it off the needle.

2. Pull this last stitch through the first stitch on the hook, so only 1 loop remains on the crochet hook.

Russian grafting garter stitch, repeat step 2

3. Front needle: Insert the crochet hook knitwise through the first stitch and slide it off the needle.

Russian grafting garter stitch, repeat step 3

4. Pull this last stitch through the first stitch on the hook, so only 1 loop remains on the crochet hook.

Russian grafting garter stitch, repeat step 4

Repeat steps 1-4 until all stitches have been worked. At this point you will have 1 stitch remaining on the crochet hook:

To finish the graft, pull the yarn tail through this last stitch to secure it. And there you have it! The seam may seem bulky, but that’s mostly because I’ve used relatively thick yarn here. When using fingering weight yarn at a loose gauge, it will blend in nicely in garter stitch!

Thanks to my Patreon supporters for bringing you this freebie! Creating quality patterns and tutorials is a lot of work and resource-intensive. However, I find it important to give you free content like this tutorial. Thanks to the generous support of my Patreon supporters, I can make it happen. Thank you, patrons! Click here to join, or click here to read more about La Visch Designs on Patreon.

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5-year anniversary!

It seems like it was yesterday, but it really has been 5 years since I started designing professionally. Of course, I published some patterns before, but it was in June 2014 that I made it all official by registering La Visch Designs as a business with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce. And yes, I know it’s July by now. June was a bit too hectic to add 5-year anniversary celebrations into the mix, such is life. And there will be celebrations!

I had so much fun preparing everything when I went through all my designs. It seems that in the past 5 years I really found my own style and voice. I also have moved towards designing larger shawls, vs the one-skein shawls I started out with.

Anyway, will you celebrate my 5-year anniversary with me? Read on for more information!

How does it work?

The upcoming 10 days, once every 2 days, I will post below a gallery of designs for each of the years that I’ve been designing. Only in those 2 days, the patterns presented are available with a whopping 50% discount of the regular price, using the code that will also be posted below. The code can be used more than once by everyone.

Place your patterns in the cart and use the coupon codes given below for a 50% discount on the regular price. Each coupon is valid for 2 days only:

Year 1: Valid from July 5, 0:00 to July 6, midnight CEST 2019.
Year 2: Valid from July 7, 0:00 to July 8, midnight CEST 2019.
Year 3: Valid from July 9, 0:00 to July 10, midnight CEST 2019.
Year 4: Valid from July 11, 0:00 to July 12, midnight CEST 2019.
Year 5: Valid from July 13, 0:00 to July 14, midnight CEST 2019.

5-year anniversary! Read More »

tutorial – Kitchener stitch: grafting garter stitch

Tutorial grafting garter stitch using Kitchener

As I already wrote in the stockinette Kitchener tutorial, it seems there are 2 distinct camps: either you love it or you hate it. Kitchener stitch is a method of grafting two sets of live stitches together in an invisible way. It’s often used in a stockinette based fabric to seamlessly close the toes of top-down socks, for example. To do so, the needle is passed through the live stitches of the pieces of knitting to be joined, in a similar manner similar as the direction in which a knitting needle is inserted within a stitch.

And it may surprise you, but working Kitchener stitch is also very well possible in a garter stitch based fabric. The magic trick behind this is that because you’ll be creating an extra row of stitches, one of the garter stitch pieces needs to be one row shorter than the other. In other words: If you have ended one piece with a right side row, you’ll need to end the other piece with a wrong side row!

Materials used

Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, here in the colors 133 Marine Blue for the swatches and 155 Vintage Pink for the Kitchener stitch.

Darning needle: * Hiya Hiya Darn It Yarn Needle, or any other tapestry needle, threaded with yarn.

Working Kitchener to graft garter stitch step by step

Set-up

Before we start, we have to make sure that the two pieces of garter stitch fabric that we will be grafting together, each have the same number of stitches.

We also have to make sure that one of the pieces is ended with a right side row and the other on a wrong side row. But how to recognize which is which? Personally, I usually use the knitted-on CO method. This means that once I’m done with casting on my stitches, there are stitches on my right-hand needle, ready for knitting, with the yarn tail on the left side. So, when facing the right side, the yarn tail will always be on the left bottom corner of the work!

2 garter stitch swatches and a darning needle

You can, of course, also use a removable stitch marker in each piece to indicate the RS. In these swatches, though, I’ve worked a little bit of stockinette to indicate the right side.

1. To start, we hold the two needles containing the live stitches parallel to each other, with the wrong sides of the fabric facing inside and the right sides facing outside. Hold the shorter piece in the back.

2. Take your darning needle and pass it purlwise through the first stitch on the front needle. Pull the yarn through, while leaving the stitch on the needle.

3. Next, thread the darning needle purlwise through the first stitch on the back needle. Again, pull the yarn through, while leaving the stitch on the needle.

Repeat

1. Front needle: Pass the darning needle knitwise through the first stitch of the front needle. Pull the yarn through and slip the stitch off the needle. The below picture shows how it looks after the stitch has been dropped.

2. Front needle: Next, thread the darning needle purlwise through the second stitch on the front needle. Leave the stitch on the needle and pull the yarn through.

3. Back needle: Pass the darning needle knitwise through the first stitch of the back needle. Pull the yarn through and slip the stitch off the needle. Again, the picture shows how it looks after the stitch has been dropped off.

4. Back needle: Next, thread the darning needle purlwise through the second stitch on the back needle. Leave the stitch on the needle and pull the yarn through. Be careful not to pull your yarn too tightly!

Repeat steps 1 to 4 until only 1 stitch remains on each knitting needle. Take care to gently adjust the tension of the newly made stitches every few stitches to match the fabric of the pieces you’re grafting together.

Finishing Kitchener in garter stitch

1. Now insert the darning needle knitwise into the stitch on the front needle and pull the yarn through, dropping the stitch from the needle.

2. To finish, insert the darning needle knitwise into the stitch on the back needle. Pull the yarn through and drop the stitch from the needle.

And that’s how you work Kitchener in garter stitch!

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ramalina

The Ramalina shawl, named for the greenish lichen, was inspired in both construction and coloring by this wonderful part of nature. The plain stockinette body lets the subtle variegation of the silk yarn used really shine.

Ramalina is a semi-circle Pi shawl worked from the top-down in one piece, starting at the neck edge with a garter stitch tab. Finish the shawl with a gorgeous lace edging in the contrast color. The instructions for the lace are provided both charted and written out.

Pay what you want: (minimum €6.50)

€

Difficulty level

Ramalina is a half-circle shawl, knit from the top down, starting with a garter tab cast-on. Stitches used include knit, purl, yo, m1, kfb, k3tog, a left-leaning double decrease, and lifted-over knot stitch.

This pattern is suitable for the intermediate to advanced knitter.

Sizes and finished measurements

One size – finished dimensions: 186 cm (73 ¼ inches) along the upper edge and a depth of 65 cm (25 ½ inches), measured after blocking.

Pattern details

Gauge: 20 sts / 27 rows = 10 cm (4 inches) over stockinette, measured after blocking. Gauge is, however, not critical in this design.
Pattern languages included: English and Dutch (Dit patroon omvat zowel een Nederlandse als een Engelse versie)
Digital PDF has 4 pages (letter size)

Materials

Yarn: Handmaiden Fine Yarn Swiss Silk (100% Silk; 400 m (437 yds) / 100 g) in the following amounts and colors: MC: 400 m (437 yds) / 100 g in “Peridot” and CC: 400 m (437 yds) / 100 g in “Moss”. This yarn and pattern are also available as a kit from Sweater Sisters! Substitute any silk (or other smooth and drapey) fingering weight yarn for a similar result.
Size 4 mm (US Size 6) 80 cm (32 inches) or longer circular needle.
Yarn needle
Stitch markers to denote repeats of the lace patterning (optional)

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tutorial – working a purl-side right-leaning lifted increase

Tutorial working a purl-side Right Lifted Increase (RLIP)

People usually shape knitwear by increasing or decreasing the number of stitches. There are, of course, lots of different versions possible. In this tutorial, I’ll focus on the purl-side right-leaning version of the lifted increase. If you’re looking for the knit-side right-leaning lifted increase, just click here.

What is a lifted increase?

Basically, it’s exactly how it’s called: an increase that you work from a stitch below the one next on the needle. This stitch is lifted to be able to work into it. The purl-side version is called the same as the knit-side version, only with “purl” added after it. Right Lifted Increase (Purl) with the abbreviation RLIP.

Materials used

Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, here in the color Marine Blue.

Needles: * KnitPro Nova Cubics Special Interchangeable Needle Tips, pictured here in the 4 mm (US 6) size, combined with a * KnitPro Purple Single Cable with a length of 100 cm (40 inches).

Working a purl-side Right-Leaning Lifted Increase step by step

I’ve made a little swatch (continuing the same one from the RLI tutorial!) and will be making the increases 4 sts in from the garter stitch border when viewed from the wrong (purl) side.

1. To start, insert your right-hand needle from bottom to top into the horizontal purl bump directly below the first stitch on the left-hand needle.

2. Next, place the lifted stitch on the left-hand needle, making sure that you place it non-twisted. In other words: the left leg of the stitch is behind the needle and the right leg is in front.

3. Now insert the other needle into the front of the stitch as if to purl….

4. … and complete the stitch by wrapping the yarn around the needle, pulling it through and slipping the worked stitch off the needle as usual. You have now increased one stitch.

5. I worked a couple of more rows, with increases on the WS (purl-side) rows only and 4 sts in from the garter stitch edge. This is how the piece looks:

Tutorial working a purl-side Right-Leaning Lifted Increase (RLIP)

Let’s turn the piece around

When turning the little swatch around to see how the RS of it looks, I found this:

Turns out that a purl-side Right Lifted Increase gives a rather lovely left-leaning result when viewed from the right side of the fabric. I’ve searched the internet to see if I could find any more information about it, but alas. So this is for now, good to know though!

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half fade hap

The Half Fade Hap is the smaller, triangular sister of the Full Fade Hap. With its generous size, it makes for a wonderful, cozy shawl. This shawl is made in the tradition of the shawls from the Shetland Isles, making for a very interesting construction.

The Half Fade Hap starts at one corner of the center triangle and increased until big enough. Stitches are picked up along the edges and the stunning border is worked outwards. Each color band in its own lace patterning. The shawl is finished with a gorgeous edging that is knitted on sideways and attached to the live stitches of the border as it is being worked.

The instructions for the lace are provided both charted and written out.

Pay what you want: (minimum €6.50)

€