I am about halfway through the Beehive section and am eyeing that center back provisional cast on with some trepidation.
I know that getting the graft just right will be critical to the success of this project. I think I'm going to go ahead and do the grafting now. If I totally mess it up, I will have "only" lost a few days of knitting time (all right, three weeks. But that's still better than months and a totally frogged project).
I'm looking for tips, techniques, pros and cons of doing the grafting now. Advice, please.
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http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/knitting-tips
This is the link to a video that shows grafting, or Kitchener stitch. You have to scroll down the page to the Finishing section and click on the 'view this video' button under Seaming/Kitchener stitch.
An important thing to remember is that the first two moves you make are to set up the first stitches to be grafted. You insert the tapestry needle purlwise through the first stitch on the front needle and leave that stitch on the needle. You then insert the tapestry needle knitwise through the first stitch on the back needle and leave that stitch on the needle.
Now you're ready to begin the grafting. *Insert the tapestry needle KNITWISE through the first stitch on the FRONT needle and slip this stitch off the needle. Then insert the tapestry needle PURLWISE through the next stitch on the FRONT needle, but leave this stitch on the needle.
Insert the tapestry needle PURLWISE through the first stitch on the BACK needle and slip this stitch off. Now insert the tapestry needle KNITWISE through the next stitch on the BACK needle and leave this stitch on the needle. Repeat from * until all stitches are off the needles.
The little chant that I use for after I've got the first stitches set up is "as if to knit and off, as if to purl and through" for the front needle and "as if to purl and off, as if to knit and through" for the back needle, "through" for me meaning that I pull the yarn all the way through the stitch but DO NOT slip that stitch off the needle.
I wanted to add that the grafting at the very top is such a small portion of the shawl that I think that even if the grafting is not 100% perfect it's not really going to be noticed against all the other things going on the design. :)
The only possible advantage that occurs to me to wait until after finishing the knitting to graft those stitches is that you'll have the project off the needles and can lay it flat and just cope with the 2 double points that you'll pick those live stitches up with. Not really a major concern, right? Anyone else think of another reason to wait?
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