I’m grafting k2p2 snood ends. I unwound the cast-on to expose live stitches, although they’re obviously not the same as the stitches on the top end (I’m still very worried I did this wrong!)
I tried the method found here: http://www.knittinghelp.com/forum/showthread.php?p=474749, but there’s a very obvious shift in the stitches. The stitches on the top of the work are clearly to the left of the stitches on the bottom of the work. Does this have something to do with the bit where you said I have to decide if I need to shift the top piece to the left or right relative to the bottom piece before beginning? What exactly do you mean by that?
Also, my pattern starts with K3P2 and then continues in k2p2. I just repeated the instructions for near 2k, far 2k to amend this, but thought maybe that’s part of my problem?
I would really appreciate any tips you have!
"So, holding these exposed bottom stitches above the exposed top stitches of the piece your grafting to, you have to then decide whether you need to shift the top piece to the left or right relative to the bottom piece before beginning. I found it necessary to shift to the right, so that the first stitch you’re working of the exposed bottom stitches, is actually the strand between the two knit stitches."
The above is a quote from Amy’s original post which you linked to. I would think that if you tried shifting one way and it’s not quite right, try shifting in the opposite direction. I haven’t tried this myself but the reason for the shift is that the live sts that you’ve freed up from the cast on edge are really the loops between the sts. It sounds like you can avoid the half st jog using her method.
If you think the K3 at the beginning is giving you trouble, put the first st on each needle on spare yarn and start with k2p2. You can always figure out the saved k sts when you’ve finished.
Hope this helps.
Hi salmonmac,
Thanks. Thing is, I didn’t shift anything. At least I don’t think I did. I don’t really understand what is meant by “shift your work to the right.” That’s why I’m wondering if this is what is causing me the problem. Can anyone explain what this means? Thanks!
I tried grafting the k2p2 on live sts to the sts unpicked from a cast on edge and it worked surprisingly well. When I looked at the unpicked sts, they look more like 3 loops at the knits and 1 loop at the purls but nevertheless, following Amy’s directions it came out as a seamless join. Make sure you have the same number of loops picked up as sts on the other end.
You can even accommodate the k3 at the beginning of your pattern if you do the preliminary round and then repeat rows 1 and 2 once before proceeding to rows 3 and 4.
The shift is because you’re not actually lining up two rows of sts the way you would with a three needle bind-off. You’re lining up a live st with the loop between sts (from the cast off edge). A video of this kind of graft would be worth whole paragraphs! or is there a yarn store near you that could demonstrate?
Thanks so much. I don’t know what’s going on with mine. I have the same number of stitches on both sides, I accomodated for the K3 at the beginning and it still comes out shifted by half a stitch and the knit lines don’t match up at all. I will continue to experiment. Thanks for all your help!