Lord Kitchener's Stitch

The Chinook winds have started here - and snow is melting.  And that means ice...  Underneath my feet...  Treacherous ice waiting for the unsuspecting.  And that means neighbourhood walks are off for the forseeable future - at least until the next snowfall at any rate.  It's been almost a year since my "big fall" and I don't mind telling you I'm terrified of falling again.

So...I retreat into the house and pick up the knitting needles, although Libby and I did venture over to the dog park this morning where she made friends with a gorgeous Doberman named Kira and we played with the frisby.  Libby's pretty good at the Frisby catching - not so good at bringing it back but we're working on it.

 I feel much more confident walking on the icy grass than I do tip toeing down the sidewalks around here - and the alleys are skating rinks - polished ice that looks like glass and is twice as dangerous.

I've just finished a very interesting scarf  designed byCarol Huebscher Rhoades and published in the September/October issue of Piecework Magazine.  You can find it at  pieceworkmagazine.com -

This was such an interesting scarf to knit - the two fan shell motif's are knit separately, one of them then turning into the narrow rib pattern and finally joined up with the Kitchener stitch.  The idea here is no bulk around the back of your neck, but a pretty ruffle in front.  I used a lovely wool/mohair blend spun at "Custom Knitting Mill" in Carstairs and given to me by a friend whose niece owns the goats and sheep.  It was gorgeous to work with and this scarf will go back to my friend to thank her for the wool - I used around 100g of the wool and 4mm DP needles.

And that got me to thinking about the kitchener stitch itself and what a great grafting technique it is...and that got me to thinking about why it is named Kitchener stitch.
So, a bit of research later I found out why this very handy joining technique is named after Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, first Earl Kitchener 1850-1916, a hero of the Boer War, the war in Sudan and the first world war.

According to the research I found, Lord Kitchener was also quite involved with the British Red Cross and "exhorted" (lovely word that) British, Canadian and American women to knit "Comforts" - i.e. mittens, scarves and socks for the soldiers.

 But here's the interesting part - Kitchener knew how to knit socks! - and he had a sock design of his own using a squarish "grawfted" toe which he distributed to the Red Cross and which he insisted would be a much more comfortable toe closure for the soldiers in their boots.  Clever eh?  And this "Grawfted" square closure became known as the kitchener stitch!  And it is more comfortable to wear - no question.

But Kitchener stitch can also be used for other things - among them, this lovely scarf I just finished.

In this case the grafting is done in the round - which can be as bit more tricky but still works like a charm.

One of my favourite technique books is Mary Thomas's Knitting book, first published in 1938 and is full of wonderful drawings.  Mary ignores the name "Kitchener" and just calls this "knitting graft" and she has a song - or chant to help remember what to do when.

 Front Needle
"Take off as if you were going to knit
Prepare as if you were going to purl
Back needle
Take off as if you were going to purl
Prepare as if you were going to knit"

 Bear in mind you have the same number of stitches on the front as on the back, and this technique is done with your tapestry needle, keeping the yarn between the needles, not over the needles. 
So simple, so effective and indeed makes for happy toes or any other invisible grafting you want to do.

Back to the Christmas knitting - three pairs of socks are finished finally - keeping the projects small this year - "comforts"
talk soon.  p