An Education in Grafting Lace Edgings: Edging Pattern 1

There is something deeply satisfying about a piece of knitting that ends well. Not just finished, but truly complete — the kind of finish that makes someone run a finger along the edge and wonder how you managed it. Grafted lace edgings are one of those techniques that separate a polished handknit from a merely finished one, and yet they remain one of the most under-taught skills in the modern knitting canon. This post is the first in a series dedicated to changing that.

If you have ever attached a lace border by binding off and then seaming, or if you have just been leaving your edges as they are because the alternatives seemed too complicated, this is the tutorial for you. We are going to slow things down, look carefully at what grafting actually does, and work through a first edging pattern together so that by the end, the logic of the technique feels natural rather than mysterious.

What Is Grafting, and Why Does It Matter for Lace?

Grafting — also called Kitchener stitch in many knitting circles — is a method of joining two sets of live stitches together invisibly, without a seam. Instead of binding off and then sewing two bound-off edges together (which always creates a slight ridge), grafting uses a tapestry needle and working yarn to simulate a row of knitting between the two pieces. Done correctly, it is genuinely invisible. You look at the finished fabric and simply cannot find where one piece ends and the other begins.

For most knitters, grafting enters the picture when closing the toe of a sock. That is a wonderful introduction to the technique, but it barely scratches the surface of what grafting can do. When you apply the same logic to lace edgings, you open up a whole category of finishing that produces results that are simply not achievable any other way.

A lace edging attached by grafting lies flat without blocking tricks. The transition between the body of the shawl and the edging has exactly the same drape as the rest of the fabric because, structurally, it is fabric — not a seam. For lace, which is already a study in negative space and delicacy, a visible join line is a genuine distraction. Grafting removes that distraction entirely.

There is also a practical reason to learn this skill beyond aesthetics. Many traditional lace patterns — particularly those from Shetland and from the Estonian tradition — were designed with the assumption that the knitter would graft the edging on rather than seaming it. When you work from a heritage pattern and attach the edging any other way, you are working against the design’s intentions, and the result often shows it.

Before You Begin: A Honest Assessment of Prerequisites

Grafting lace edgings is not a beginner technique, but it is absolutely learnable by any knitter who is comfortable with a few foundational skills. Before you sit down with the yarn and the needle, it is worth asking yourself whether you are confident with the following.

You should be able to read a lace chart. This means understanding what an open circle represents (a yarn over), what a central double decrease does to your stitch count versus a single decrease, and how to track your position in a chart after a complicated row. If charts still feel like a foreign language, spend a few sessions with a simple charted pattern first. Grafting while simultaneously puzzling out chart symbols is two too many things to learn at once.

You should have done basic Kitchener stitch at least once, even if you did it badly. If you have never touched a tapestry needle to live stitches before, practice the standard setup on a pair of plain stockinette swatches until the rhythm of the movement — knit off, purl on; purl off, knit on — lives somewhere in your muscle memory. You will adapt that rhythm for lace, but having the baseline makes the adaptation far easier.

You should understand how yarn overs interact with the stitches on either side of them. In lace grafting, you are often working through yarn overs, and the grafted stitch needs to honor the same logic the yarn over was performing in the pattern. This is less intimidating than it sounds, but it does require that you know what a yarn over is doing structurally, not just visually.

Finally, and most practically, you should be working with a yarn that has good stitch definition and some grip. Very slippery yarns — silk singles, heavily processed superwash wools — will slide off your needles at precisely the wrong moment. For your first attempt at grafting a lace edging, choose a wool or wool-blend yarn with a little texture. Shetland-style yarns are ideal for this, both because they grip well and because they are historically appropriate for this kind of work.

Understanding the Architecture of an Edging

Before we look at the specific pattern, it helps to understand how lace edgings are typically constructed and how they relate to the body of the work.

A lace edging is almost always worked perpendicular to the main body of the piece. Imagine a shawl whose body runs horizontally. The edging will be a long strip whose rows run vertically, with one side of the strip being the straight, structural edge that will be joined to the shawl, and the other side being the decorative outer edge — the part with the points or scallops or picots that make lace edgings so beautiful.

The side that will be joined to the shawl is called the attachment edge. Every other row (or every row, in some patterns) of the edging produces a stitch or a loop along this edge that corresponds to one stitch along the shawl’s edge. When you graft the edging on, you are working along this attachment edge, and what you are essentially doing is connecting those corresponding stitches so that the edging and the shawl become a single piece of fabric.

This is the critical conceptual point: when you graft a lace edging, you are not grafting two identical sets of stitches the way you do at a sock toe. You are matching the attachment edge of the edging to the live edge of the shawl body, and those two edges may look quite different from each other. The shawl edge will typically be a series of plain stitches. The attachment edge of the lace edging will include yarn overs, decreases, and possibly other constructions depending on the pattern. Your job during grafting is to work through whatever structure exists on the attachment edge in a way that completes the pattern correctly.

Edging Pattern 1: A Classic Point Lace Border

The pattern we are working with in this first installment is a traditional point lace border. It is sometimes called a simple leaf edging or a basic chevron lace edge, and variations of it appear in knitting literature going back well over a century. It is an excellent first grafted edging because the structure is clear, the repeat is short enough to memorize after one or two repeats, and the attachment edge is straightforward.

Here is the pattern as written:

Cast on 9 stitches.

Row 1 (RS): Slip 1, k2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2.
Row 2 (WS): Knit to last stitch, sl1 wyif.
Row 3: Slip 1, k2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k3.
Row 4: Knit to last stitch, sl1 wyif.
Row 5: Slip 1, k2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k4.
Row 6: Knit to last stitch, sl1 wyif.
Row 7: Slip 1, k1, (k2tog) three times, yo, k2tog, yo, k2.
Row 8: Knit to last stitch, sl1 wyif.

These 8 rows form one complete repeat. The slipped edge stitch on the right side and the corresponding slipped stitch at the end of wrong-side rows creates a neat chain of loops along the attachment edge, one loop per two rows. This is what you will graft to the body of your work.

A note about the slip stitch at the beginning of right-side rows: you are slipping it purlwise with the yarn in back. This creates the cleanest possible edge chain. If your pattern says simply “sl1” without further specification, purlwise with yarn in back is almost always the correct interpretation for an edge stitch in garter or lace work.

Working the Edging

Swatch the edging pattern before you commit it to your actual project. Nine stitches is very few, so a swatch only needs to be a few inches long to give you useful information. Work at least three full repeats (twenty-four rows) before you assess your gauge and your understanding of the pattern.

As you work, pay attention to the attachment edge — the left side of the edging as you look at the right side of your work. You should see a neat series of loops forming, one per two rows. These loops should be consistently sized and evenly spaced. If they look uneven, check whether you are consistently slipping the first stitch of every right-side row and the last stitch of every wrong-side row. Inconsistency there is almost always the source of an uneven attachment edge.

The decorative outer edge — the right side of the edging as you look at the right side — will show the characteristic points building and collapsing with each repeat. By row 5, you will have added three stitches (the three yarn overs without compensating decreases on the same row, once you count across the full pattern). Rows 7 restores the original stitch count by working three k2togs in quick succession. This is the mechanism that creates the point: stitches accumulate to push the edge outward, then are rapidly drawn back in.

Preparing to Graft

Once your edging is the correct length (it should match the edge of the body stitch for stitch, with your attachment-edge loops equaling the number of live stitches on your shawl or body piece), it is time to set up for grafting.

Do not bind off the edging. Leave those nine stitches on the needle. You need them live for grafting.

Hold the body of your work and the edging with their right sides facing up. The body stitches sit on one needle, the edging stitches on another. Thread a tapestry needle with a generous length of working yarn — in this case, the same yarn as your project. Longer is better here. Running out of yarn mid-graft and having to join a new length is unpleasant and almost always visible in the finished piece.

The standard grafting setup applies: bring the tapestry needle through the first stitch of the front needle (the body) as if to purl, leave the stitch on the needle. Bring the tapestry needle through the first stitch of the back needle (the edging) as if to knit, leave the stitch on the needle. Now you are ready to begin the sequence.

For plain stockinette grafting, the sequence is: front stitch knitwise off, front stitch purlwise on; back stitch purlwise off, back stitch knitwise on. For lace grafting, you are adapting this sequence as you encounter yarn overs and decreases along the attachment edge of the edging.

The key principle is this: every stitch or construction on the attachment edge needs to be worked through in a way that completes the last row of the edging pattern. A yarn over on the attachment edge gets treated as a stitch — you pass your needle through it as you would through a normal stitch. A decrease that would have occurred on the attachment edge needs to be honored by working the tapestry needle through two stitches together where appropriate.

In practice, because Edging Pattern 1 has a very clean attachment edge (largely the result of those disciplined slipped stitches), the grafting here is closer to standard Kitchener stitch than it will be with more complex edgings. This is one of the reasons it makes an excellent starting point.

Common Problems and How to Solve Them

The most common problem with grafted lace edgings is tension. Grafted stitches that are too tight will pucker the join line. Grafted stitches that are too loose will create visible gaps. The solution is to work slowly and check your tension every few stitches. You can adjust with a tapestry needle once the grafting is complete — gently coaxing each stitch to the correct size before the yarn is cut and woven in — but catching tension problems as they happen is much easier.

The second most common problem is losing your place. If you are not sure which needle is “front” and which is “back,” mark one with a small piece of contrast yarn tied around it before you begin. The distraction of figuring out your orientation mid-graft is enormous, and the mistake you make as a result is usually significant enough to require re-doing a section.

The third problem is forgetting which step you are on in the knitwise/purlwise sequence. Some knitters find it helpful to murmur the sequence aloud: “Off knitwise, on purlwise, off purlwise, on knitwise.” Others use a counting system. Find whatever rhythm works for you and commit to it for the entire join.

After the Graft: Blocking and Assessment

Once you have grafted the full length of the edging, weave in your ends and wet-block the piece. Lace almost always requires wet blocking to open up the pattern and display the stitches correctly, and a grafted join also benefits from blocking — any small tension inconsistencies along the join will ease out as the fabric relaxes and dries.

Pin the edging points firmly when blocking. This is what creates those crisp, defined points that make lace edgings so visually striking. A point pinned to a severe angle and left to dry will hold that angle beautifully.

When the piece is dry, examine the join line. Run your finger along it. Look at it in raking light. If the grafting has gone well, you will struggle to find it. That difficulty — that moment where you look carefully and simply cannot identify the seam — is the whole point. It is the moment that justifies learning this technique properly.

Looking Ahead

This first edging pattern is intentionally accessible. Its attachment edge is clean, its repeat is short, and its stitch count stays manageable throughout. In subsequent posts in this series, we will work with edgings that have more complex attachment edges, edgings that require you to work the grafting sequence in a way that mirrors the lace pattern row rather than simply completing a stockinette graft, and edgings designed for curved edges rather than straight ones.

Each of those variations builds on the foundation we have laid here. If you have worked through Edging Pattern 1 and grafted it successfully onto even a small swatch, you already understand the core logic. Everything that follows is an elaboration of what you have already learned.

Take your time with this one. Work the pattern multiple times if necessary. The skill rewards patience, and patience with this particular technique pays dividends every time you pick up a lace project for the rest of your knitting life.