Kitchener Stitch is a technique for invisibly grafting live stitches together. It is essentially a set of sewing steps that you work with a length of yarn and a tapestry needle. In the end, you have a row of knit stitches that seamlessly graft together two sets of live stockinette stitches… Pretty amazing! (Note that sometimes Kitchener Stitch is used over other simple stitch patterns, but the steps for those stitches are in a different order.) Common places to use Kitchener Stitch are at the toe of top-down socks and at the shoulders and underarms of garments.

The instructions for Kitchener Stitch may seem a bit intimidating, but really, it’s super simple. The only real challenge is keeping track of where you are in the steps. A good tip: Say each step out loud as you do it, and soon, you’ll be in the rhythm!

Stitch along with our video or skip down to our step-by-step photo tutorial and you’ll be Kitchener-ing in no time!

Click To See Video Transcript

Hi, I’m Whitney from Purl Soho and I’m going to show you the Kitchener Stitch. The Kitchener Stitch is a technique that seamlessly graphs together two sets of live stitches by sewing new stitches between the two.

Here are two stockinette pieces, and to start, I’m going to hold the needles parallel to each other with the points facing to the right, the wrong sides of the fabric are together so that the right side of the pieces is facing me. Typically, when you work, Kitchener Stitch, you thread the tail of your work onto a tapestry needle. But I’m going to use this scrap yarn in a contrast color so you can really see what I’m doing. Kitchener stitch starts with two setup stitches.

To begin, insert the threaded tapestry needle through the first stitch on the front needle, pearl wise from the back to the front, as if you’re pearling, and pull the yarn through. Next, take the tapestry needle through the first stitch on the back needle knit wise from front to back, as if you’re knitting and pull the yarn through. These are the two setup stitches.

Now we’re going to do a series of four steps that you repeat over and over again. One, insert your needle through the first stitch on the front needle, knitwise from front to back. Pull the yarn through and let this stitch drop off the needle. Two, insert the needle through the next stitch on the front needle, purlwise, from back to front. Pull the yarn through and let the stitch stay on the needle. That’s the front needle. Now for the back needle, you insert the needle through the first stitch, purlwise, and drop this stitch off the needle. Then you insert your tapestry needle through the first stitch on the back needle knitwise from front to back, and allow this stitch to stay on the needle. 

Let’s repeat these steps a few times. Come through the first stitch on the front needle knitwise, and drop that stitch off the needle. Come through the first stitch on the front needle purlwise, and leave that stitch on the needle. Come through the first stitch on the back needle purlwise, and drop that stitch off the needle. And then come through this stitch knitwise and leave it on the needle.

Again: Front needle knitwise, drop it off. Front needle purlwise, leave it on. Back needle purlwise, drop it off. Back needle knitwise, leave it on. Notice that I’m keeping my index finger between my two needles. This is so the tension of my kitchener stitch doesn’t get too tight.

I’ll show you that again in a second. But let’s do those steps one more time. Front needle knitwise, take it off. Front needle purlwise, leave it on. Back needle purlwise, take it off. Back needle knitwise, leave it on. 

Okay, so you can see here that we really are making a new row of stocknette stitches that’s connecting these two pieces of fabric. But the tension right now is quite loose. It’s not matching the tension of the fabric. So all you do to fix that and you do this sort of every few stitches as you go along, is take your tapestry needle and pull the tension through so that it’s matching the stitches of your fabric, and will be a row of stockinette stitches that you can’t even discern from your regularly knit fabric.

So I’m going to continue to knit to the end of my row, and we’ll come back when I’m at the last two stitches, and I’ll show you what to do there.

Okay, so I’ve worked the Kitchener stitch across all the stitches to the last two to work these, you continue as before by inserting the needle knitwise into the first stitch on the front needle and taking that stitch off. And then you do the next step for the back needle, which is to insert your tapestry needle purlwise, and also take that stitch off. So that’s the Kitchener stitch. It’s a beautifully seamless technique. It is perfectly invisible and a little bit magic. I hope you use it a lot.

Kitchener Stitch: Step-By-Step

Kitchener Stitch | Purl Soho

Set-Up Step 1: Thread a tapestry needle with the same yarn you used to work your project. Hold the needles with the live stitches parallel in your left hand. Insert the tapestry needle through the first stitch on the front needle as if to PURL. Pull the yarn through, leaving a tail that you will weave in later. Leave the stitch on the front needle.

Kitchener Stitch | Purl Soho

Set-Up Step 2: Insert the tapestry needle through the first stitch on the back needle as if to KNIT, pull the yarn through, leaving the stitch on the back needle.

Kitchener Stitch | Purl Soho

Step 1: Insert the tapestry needle through the first stitch on the front needle as if to KNIT, pull the yarn through, removing the stitch from the front needle.

Kitchener Stitch | Purl Soho

Step 2: Insert the tapestry needle through the first stitch on the front needle as if to PURL, pull the yarn through, leaving the stitch on the front needle.

Kitchener Stitch | Purl Soho

Step 3: Insert the tapestry needle through the first stitch on the back needle as if to PURL, pull the yarn through, removing the stitch on the back needle.

Step 4: Insert the tapestry needle through the first stitch on the back needle as if to KNIT, pull the yarn through, leaving the stitch on the back needle.

Kitchener Stitch | Purl Soho

Repeat Steps 1-4 until all stitches have been worked. Every few stitches, adjust the tension of your work, making sure not to pull too tightly. Remember, you are making an extra row of knitting rather than sewing together a seam.

Quick + Easy Written Instructions For Kitchener Stitch

Set-Up Step 1: Insert needle through first stitch on the FRONT needle as if to PURL. LEAVE stitch on needle.

Set-Up Step 2: Insert needle through first stitch on BACK needle as if to KNIT. LEAVE stitch on needle.

Step 1: Insert needle through first stitch on FRONT needle as if to KNIT. REMOVE stitch from needle.

Step 2: Insert needle through first stitch on FRONT needle as if to PURL. LEAVE stitch from needle.

Step 3: Insert needle through first stitch on BACK needle as if to PURL. REMOVE stitch from needle.

Step 4: Insert needle through first stitch on BACK needle as if to KNIT. LEAVE stitch from needle.

Repeat Steps 1-4 and that’s it!

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