How to knit Jogless Stripes

When knitting in the round we are actually knitting in a spiral, the last stitch of each row sits one row above the first stitch. This means that when we knit a stripe in the round the two “ends” of it don’t meet up and there is a visible join or “jog”. To combat this there are different techniques to achieve “jogless” stripes. Which one you use depends on what kind of stripes you are knitting; I’m going to show you four methods to cover a variety of situations.

Method One – Travelling Jogless Stripes

Method 2 Knit Below Stationary Stripes – Method 3 Knit Below Travelling Stripes – Method 4 All Purpose Jogless Join

This simple method works well for stripes 3 or more rounds high. Step 4 moves the beginning of round and location of next color change by one stitch which helps make the stripes perfectly jogless. This may not be a problem on some projects but could be a real pain on ones with shaping.

Step 1
Join new color (C2) at start of round as usual and knit to end of round.

Step 2
At start of next round, slip first st of C2 purlwise.

Step 3
Knit to end of round, remove beginning of round marker.

Step 4
Knit slipped stitch.

Step 5
Replace beginning of round marker.

Step 6
Knit remaining rounds of stripe as needed.

Method Two – Knit Below Stationary Stripes

Method 1 Travelling Jogless – Method 3 Knit Below Travelling Stripes – Method 4 All Purpose Jogless Join

This method works well for stripes that are 2 or more rounds high. With this method the start of the round stays in the same place.

Step 1
Join new color (C2) at beginning of round as usual and knit to end of round.

Step 2
At start of next round, with right-hand needle lift right-hand “leg” of stitch below stitch on left-hand needle (the “leg” will be in the old color C1).

Step 3
Place “leg” on left-hand needle and knit “leg” and stitch together with C2.

Step 4
Knit remaining rounds of stripe as needed.

Method Three – Knit Below Travelling Stripes

Method 1 Travelling Jogless – Method 2 Knit Below Stationary Stripes – Method 4 All Purpose Jogless Join

This method is a combination of the two methods above. You can use it for stripes that are 1 or more round(s) high, if it doesn’t matter if the start of the round moves.

Step 1
Join new color (C2) at beginning of round as usual and knit to end of round.

Step 2
Remove marker, with right-hand needle lift right-hand “leg” of stitch below stitch on left-hand needle (the “leg” will be in the old color C1).

Step 3
Place “leg” on left-hand needle (seen from above).

Step 4
Knit “leg” and stitch together with C2.

Step 5
Replace beginning of round marker, start next round with C1.

Step 6
Continue knitting stripes as needed.

Method Four – All Purpose Jogless Join

Method 1 Travelling Jogless – Method 2 Knit Below Stationary Stripes – Method 3 Knit Below Travelling Stripes

This method was developed by Helene Magnusson and shared on her Icelandic Knitter website (https://icelandicknitter.com/);
she has kindly agreed to me including it here. It works well for stripes of 1 round or more and the start of the round stays in the same place.

It starts at the end of the round before the new color begins.

Step 1
Knit last stitch in old color (C1)

Step 2
Slip this stitch purlwise back to left-hand needle.

Step 3
Reknit stitch with new color (C2).

Step 4
With C2 knit until 1 stitch remains in round (this is the stitch we knitted twice in Step 1 and 3).

Step 5
You can see the first stitch in C1 sits below the second stitch in C2. This is why reknitting this stitch doesn’t make an increase.

Step 6
With right-hand needle lift right-hand “leg” of C1 stitch below.

Step 7
Lift onto left-hand needle

Step 8
Knit “leg” and stitch together with C2.

Step 9
Continue knitting stripes as needed.

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