Uploaded October 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago

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knitfreedom.com/blog/kitchener-stitch

To seam your 1x1 rib with Kitchener stitch, make sure you start your provisional cast-on correctly. Otherwise it will be hard to take your provisional yarn out.

These instructions show how to seamlessly join 1×1 rib top-to-bottom, that is, when you join provisional cast-on stitches to the edge to be bound off.

Cast on your ribbing using a provisional cast-on. Make sure to knit the first row of stitches before starting your ribbing, or else you won’t be able to get the waste yarn out later.

When you are ready to bind off, pull our the waste yarn of your provisional cast-on. Feed the knitting needle through the loops the provisional cast-on has saved, making sure to get the half-loop on either side.

You should have one more loop on the provisional cast-on needle than you do on your working needle.

There are no setup stitches for Kitchener stitch on 1×1 rib. Work the following sequence according to what kind of stitch you are binding off on the front needle.

For a knit stitch:

Front needle: Feed tapestry needle through purlwise. Do not remove stitch.
Back needle: Feed tapestry needle through purlwise. Remove stitch.
Back needle: Feed tapestry needle through knitwise. Do not remove stitch.
Front needle: Feed tapestry needle through knitwise. Remove stitch.

For a purl stitch:

Front needle: Feed tapestry needle through knitwise. Do not remove stitch.
Back needle: Feed tapestry needle through knitwise. Remove stitch.
Back needle: Feed tapestry needle through purlwise. Do not remove stitch.
Front needle: Feed tapestry needle through purlwise. Remove stitch.

For a technical explanation of how this works (and how to graft 1×1 ribbing top-to-top) I recommend Joni Coniglio’s excellent Interweave article Grafting Knitting, Myth 2: Grafted Ribbing Will Always Have a Half-Stitch Jog.