HOW TO GRAFT SOCK TOES
W hen grafting a sock toe you are working with a group of stitches that are all effectively part of the same row or round, and so they can be grafted together seamlessly. However, when you graft two pieces or ‘ends’ of fabric together, you will find they are always half a stitch out. There isn’t a real solution to this. You can cast off one of the sets of stitches and ‘false graft’ them onto the other, and this will disguise it a bit, but really the easiest approach is just to graft as neatly and as accurately as possible. In some cases, your pattern may use a ‘spacer’ pattern to hide the join and instruct you to graft in garter stitch or reverse stocking stitch. It’ll still be half a stitch out but it won’t be as obvious as if you try to match the pattern exactly.
CLEVER TRICKS FOR GRAFTING SOCK TOES
Grafting may seem like a pretty perfect way to join a sock toe, but the first time you try it you may discover that you get a little point or baggy stitch at the join of the last two stitches. This is actually a common phenomenon in knitting – the same thing tends to happen at the end of a row of cast- off stitches. Both problems have essentially the same solution; treating the last two stitches as if they were one. In the case of grafting, this means that on the set- up of your last stitch but one on each needle, you should take the yarn through two stitches at once.
1 To do this work the third from last stitch on the front needle as normal and then take the yarn tail through the last two stitches purlwise on the front needle.
2 Then work the third from last stitch on the back needle as normal and then take the yarn tail through the last two stitches knitwise on the back needle.
3 Once you’ve done this, take the yarn knitwise through the front two stitches and drop them off the needle.
4 Then take the yarn purlwise through the back two stitches and drop them off the needle. You’ve now worked all your stitches, and should have less of a point than if you’d worked the final two stitches on each needle one at a time.
5 If you find that you still have a point, when weaving in your yarn end, make your initial ‘entry point’ with your darning needle into the toe of the sock about two rows down to the left of the end of your grafting toe and pull your yarn tail through, before weaving it into the main fabric of the sock using duplicate stitch.
To use the same trick when casting off stitches, work until you have three stitches remaining – one on your righthand needle and two on your left- hand needle. Then insert your right- hand needle either knitwise (left to right) or purlwise (right to left) through the two stitches on the left- hand needle, depending on your chosen cast off, and work them as if they were one stitch. No more pointy cast offs!