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.

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use.

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make.

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!).

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn.

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart.

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern.

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.

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