{"id":1139,"date":"2010-06-18T05:51:55","date_gmt":"2010-06-18T12:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ittakesballstoknit.com\/?p=1139"},"modified":"2010-06-18T05:51:55","modified_gmt":"2010-06-18T12:51:55","slug":"the-last-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ittakesballstoknit.com\/?p=1139","title":{"rendered":"The last step …"},"content":{"rendered":"

Congratulations .. . well, almost. We only have one step left and then you’ll have a pair of socks you can wear! That is, if you made them for yourself. If not, some lucky person is going to get a great pair of socks. So all we have left to do is close up the hole at the toes, and darn in the ends (if you only used one ball per sock you’ll have less to do) and you’re finished! We’re going to use a method called grafting to close up the holes, and use a technique called the Kitchener Stitch. There is some debate as to where this technique came from, but the common consensus is to a Lord Kitchener of Khartoum who was a knitter himself and promoted knitting through the Red Cross. He had the ladies knit various items for the army including his own sock design with its own seamless grafted toe. There is suspicion that he was not the one to perfect the technique, but I fear that is going to be one of the great unsolved mysteries of knitting. At any rate, thanks to modern technology, we not only have instructions on how to do the Kitchener Stitch, but lots and lots of videos as well. I will share my favorite with you later in this post, courtesy of the KnitWitch. On we go.<\/p>\n

In order to successfully complete the KS, you will need to prepare. The checklist is actually quite short, and only a little counting is necessary. The KS is used to join two sets of live stitches together, leaving a seamless join. When done correctly, you can’t tell where it is, as there is no tell tale ridge, and the stitches just seem to flow into one another. In order to do it, you will need the following:<\/p>\n