How to Seam Garter Stitch

Garter stitch is an unsung (by many people) workhorse of knitting. It’s so easy to knit and quite meditative, and I love the chunky texture of the waves of garter stitch ridges.

But just because it’s easy doesn’t mean everything about it is simple.

Take knitting in the round, for instance. When you knit every stitch of every row flat, you get garter stitch, but knit every stitch of every round in the round? Stockinette stitch.

To make garter stitch when knitting in the round, you have to knit a round and purl a round. Most knitters like to work in the round to avoid purling, so this isn’t a great option.

(It is possible, though. I did this on a big cowl I knit many years ago.)

In addition to the purling being annoying, it’s also not ideal because switching between knits and purls at the beginning of each round makes a jog, much like the jog you get when you change colors knitting in the round. This little blip almost looks like a seam.

So why not just knit a project flat and seam it? That eliminates the problem of having to purl, and at least theoretically your sewn seam could be less visible than the faux seam of a project worked in rounds.

I say theoretically because I feel like people don’t learn how to seam garter stitch as regularly as we teach mattress stitch. Maybe that has to do with people abandoning garter stitch as soon as they learn how to purl? I don’t know.

Seaming garter stitch seems like it might be more difficult, too, because you don’t have those neat little vs to work into. But it’s not difficult once you know what you need to do.

I broke it all down in this tutorial about how to seam garter stitch. Because I used multicolored yarn the seam is more visible than it would be in a solid color, but that lets you see exactly what’s happening. And once you know what you’re doing you’ll have unlocked a whole new world of options for knitting garter stitch.

Do you love garter stitch as much as I do or do you tend to avoid it? I’d love to hear your thoughts. And check out some garter stitch knitting patterns if you’re inspired to knit more garter stitch now.

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

Have you read?