Grafting With Ms. Kitchener

I know, I know, you don’t like to sew it together. That’s why you have a whole basket full of UFO’s. Like mine, they’re all just waiting for you to put down the pointy sticks and pick up a sewing needle. How about a stitch that will graft an invisible seam?

As Ms. Kitchener steps up to bat here lets say a few things about her.
She’s elegant (did I mention invisible?)
She’s easy
She’s all over the internet! Just google “kitchener stitch” and you’ll find diagrams and pictures galore guaranteed to have you sewing up those UFO’s in no time. Go to YouTube for videos on this versatile technique.

In most of Interweave’s books they have published a very simple diagram, along with tons of tips for other techniques too.

There, I’ve done it, I’ve officially inspired myself to finish another UFO, sometime today, but first….. gotta go stack some firewood. That should be good for some sore hands!

There’s a lot to like about the Eloise Bandana from Katryn Seeburger. This cute little colorwork triangle can be worked as a bandana or kerchief size or a bigger shawlette.

It’s worked in two colors of fingering weight yarn so you can use whatever yarn you have in your stash and just make it as big as you can (since it is worked from the bottom up).

You can see the two sizes from the photo, and also two colorwork options: strawberries and lily of the valley.

But that’s not all the choices you have. In fact, there are 34 different charts you can choose from to knit onto your project. Some of the options include happy faces, a lobster, a pumpkin, a snail and a butterfly. There are cherries, peaches, tomatoes and radishes.

There’s even a blank square you can use to draw your own little design if you want to use something else. Or keep it blank and make it a plain checkerboard design.

And while both of these shawls use the same icons throughout, you could also use different designs throughout if you want. Say a fall version with a bat, pumpkin, leaf and acorn, or a summer beach theme with sailboat, fish, lobster and a bird? I keep suggesting four different icons because the larger size has four rows of squares, but the smaller has three, so you could do stripes of the same icon or alternate a couple of different ones, whatever you like.

Look through the finished projects on the Ravelry project page to see lots of different options, from rows to individual icons. There are also some projects that are smaller than the suggested size to make a smaller bandana. You could also keep going a make a bigger shawl working increases in the same way as you have been going.

Check out all the details and grab a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Katryn Seeburger]

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