Knitting guide

Kitchener stitch: how to graft a sock toe, step by step

Updated October 5, 2026 by Khokhar Sab

Kitchener stitch, also called grafting, joins two sets of live stitches with a tapestry needle so the join looks like a row of knitting. Hold the two needles parallel with wrong sides together. Work two setup steps, then repeat four steps until no stitches remain. The four steps are knit off and purl on at the front needle, then purl off and knit on at the back needle.

What is Kitchener stitch?

Kitchener stitch is a common way to graft knitting. Wikipedia describes grafting as joining knitted fabric with yarn and a needle. In Kitchener stitch, the sewing yarn follows the same path as a row of ordinary knitting, so the join disappears into the stockinette on either side.

It works on live stitches, the loops still sitting on your needles. That sets it apart from mattress stitch, which Black Sheep Wools notes is for joining edges that have already been cast off.

The name comes from Horatio Herbert Kitchener, the British Secretary of State for War in World War I. Sarah Maker dates the name to 1918 and the technique to around 1880. Wikipedia agrees that knitters used it long before it carried his name.

When to use Kitchener stitch

• Sock toes. Wikipedia notes that grafting is often used to close a sock toe. A top-down sock ends with a set of live stitches across the toe, and grafting closes them with no ridge to rub your toes.
• Mitten tips. Sarah Maker lists the tops of mittens for the same reason.
• Shoulder seams. Sarah Maker and Black Sheep Wools both suggest it for sweater shoulders with no seam.
• Underarms and lace. Elizabeth Smith grafts the underarm of a bottom-up sweater, and Simply Yarn uses it to join two halves of a lace shawl.

Any place with two equal sets of live stitches can be grafted. The sock calculator tells you how many stitches you will have left at the toe before you start.

How many stitches you graft at the toe

In the sock calculator, a wedge toe decreases 4 stitches per decrease round until about a quarter of the stitches remain. Those stitches split evenly onto two needles for grafting. The sock calculator worked out these toes for common foot sizes and gauges, with 10% negative ease:

The default sock in the calculator (an 8 inch foot at 32 stitches per 4 inches) casts on 56 stitches. Its toe decreases every other round down to 28, then every round down to 12. That leaves 6 stitches on each needle.

The count tells you how long the job is. Grafting 6 pairs takes 24 passes of the tapestry needle: 2 setup passes, 4 for each pair except the last, and 2 to finish. Every toe in the table needs 24 to 40 passes, a short enough job to finish in one sitting.

Before you start: setup

1. Check the stitch counts. Sarah Maker and LoveCrafts both stress the same number of stitches on each needle. If they differ, fix the toe decreases before you cut the yarn.
2. Line up the needles. Hold the two needles parallel in one hand, wrong sides together, with the tips pointing right. The working yarn should come from the back needle, per Simply Yarn.
3. Cut the yarn and thread it. Leave a long tail (see the table below) and thread it onto a blunt tapestry needle.
4. Setup step 1. Go into the first stitch on the front needle as if to purl. Leave it on the needle.
5. Setup step 2. Go into the first stitch on the back needle as if to knit. Leave it on the needle.

Lion Brand adds one handling tip: carry the yarn under the knitting needles each time you move between front and back. That keeps it from wrapping over the tips.

How to do Kitchener stitch: the four-step repeat

1. Front, knit off. Go into the first stitch on the front needle as if to knit and slip it off.
2. Front, purl on. Go into the next stitch on the front needle as if to purl and leave it on.
3. Back, purl off. Go into the first stitch on the back needle as if to purl and slip it off.
4. Back, knit on. Go into the next stitch on the back needle as if to knit and leave it on.

Pull the yarn through gently after each step, then repeat. Each round of four steps takes one stitch off each needle.

The rhythm to say aloud: Sarah Maker suggests reciting "knit off, purl on, purl off, knit on" as you work. Two patterns make it easy to remember. On each needle the first move takes a stitch off and the second leaves one on. The front needle starts with knit, and the back needle starts with purl.

The last stitches. When one stitch is left on each needle, work only step 1 and step 3. LoveCrafts and Simply Yarn both finish this way. Then take the tail inside the sock and weave it in.

Getting rid of ears at the corners

Grafted toes sometimes show a small point at each end, often called ears. Sarah Maker's fix is to skip the two setup steps and skip the second pass on the final two stitches. The LoveCrafts sock tutorial already works this way: it starts with "knit off" at the front needle and finishes with steps 1 and 3 only.

How to keep the tension even

Grafting tension should match the knitting on each side. Revolution Fibers warns that pulling too tight puckers the join, and leaving it too loose shows a seam. The sources agree on a few habits:

• Err on the loose side. Lion Brand advises leaving the tension a little loose, because tightening is easier than loosening.
• Check as you go. Sarah Maker suggests adjusting every few stitches.
• Even it out at the end. LoveCrafts puts a hand inside the sock and uses the needle tip to ease each stitch across the row, one at a time. Lion Brand tugs each stitch from one edge to the other.
• Practice first. Revolution Fibers suggests a trial run on scrap yarn.

A swatch in the same yarn also shows you what the stitches should look like. The guide to measuring gauge explains how to knit one.

Fixing Kitchener stitch mistakes

Losing your place is the usual problem, because a half-grafted row is hard to read. Simply Yarn advises never putting the work down until you finish a four-step repeat. Sarah Maker suggests grafting the whole toe in one session.

If a stitch looks wrong, stop and go back before you carry on. Revolution Fibers advises undoing the stitches in reverse, slowly, because a finished graft is hard to fix. Pull the yarn back out along the path it went in, and slip each freed loop back onto its knitting needle. Once you pass the error, check that both needles hold the same number of stitches again.

A stitch that sits loose after you finish doesn't need undoing. Sarah Maker notes you can tighten loose stitches afterward, and LoveCrafts does it by easing the slack along the row with the needle tip.

How much yarn tail to leave for Kitchener stitch

The sources disagree here. Sarah Maker gives three times the width of the stitches plus 6 inches. Lion Brand says 4 to 5 times the length of the graft (the table uses 5), and LoveCrafts says 7 times the width of the seam. Simply Yarn only says enough for one row of knitting, plus a little extra.

Here is what each rule gives for the toes the sock calculator makes at 32 stitches per 4 inches. The toe width is the stitches on one needle divided by the stitches per inch:

Tails are rounded up to the next inch. On a narrow toe, the plain multiples come out at only a few inches, which leaves little to hold once the needle is threaded. Sarah Maker's extra 6 inches covers that, and her rule gives the longest tail of the three for every toe here.

Kitchener stitch questions

Does Kitchener stitch work on purl or garter fabric? The steps above graft stockinette, with the knit sides facing out. Wikipedia lists three types of grafted seam, and Sarah Maker points to separate lessons for grafting garter stitch and ribbing.

Do I still need to bind off? No. Grafting secures the live stitches so they can't unravel, and it joins the two pieces at the same time.

What if my sock fits badly at the toe? Grafting can't fix a toe that is too long or too short. Check your measurements with the guide to measuring feet for socks, and the knitting ease guide explains why socks are made smaller than the foot.

Kitchener stitch closes the last edge of a cuff-down sock. The cast-on guide covers the first edge, and the bind-off guide covers the stretchy cuff of a toe-up sock.

Sources and further reading

Wikipedia's grafting article explains how Kitchener stitch fits among grafted seams. Sarah Maker's Kitchener stitch tutorial covers the rhythm, ears and tail length. Lion Brand's sock techniques post walks through setup and tension. LoveCrafts shows a full sock toe in grafting the toe, and Simply Yarn has a photo guide, How to graft knitting with Kitchener stitch. Revolution Fibers, Black Sheep Wools and Elizabeth Smith Knits publish shorter how-to pages on the same technique.

Video tutorial

"How to Kitchener Stitch Toe WITHOUT Ears (No Gaps Trick)" by Knitting with Suzanne Bryan, on YouTube. The video loads only when you press play.