Because I was 80 yards short of the pattern yardage and I was using a different yarn, I cast on 117 stitches instead of 127. Because I get bored using the same pattern for a whole blanket, I interjected some plain garter, and I thought I could use plain garter in the centre to use up all the yarn I had, as I didn’t know how far it would go. I liked the result.
TIPs for GRAFTING Garter:
Try working flat as in my picture here. It’s easier. The near needle should have the purl bumps showing up against the needle and the far needle should show a knit row. Using a tapestry needle and a length of yarn three times the width of your join and starting on the right side, put your needle through the bottom stitch as if to purl and pull yarn through snugly. Then put yarn through the top stitch as if to purl and pull through snugly. This locks the edge. HINT: When pulling yarn and moving from one Needle to the other, yarn should always travel UNDER the needles to avoid snarling! At the beginning, you need to do this very carefully as you will have such a long tail. ** moving from right to left, put yarn through bottom stitch again as if to KNIT, but this time pull yarn through and drop stitch OFF needle. Then put yarn through next stitch on bottom needle as if to PURL and keep ON needle. Moving to top , do the same thing, insert needle as if to KNIT, then drop stitch OFF and insert needle as if to PURL in next st, leaving it ON. Go back to bottom and repeat ** to end of row. I chant “KNIT OFF, PURL ON” so I remember what I am doing. I never leave the work until I have finished a sequence (ie, finished the purl on the top needle). That way I don’t lose my place. Another memory aid is to move the stitches close to the point of the needle when preparing to knit off and then push the stitches back on the needle when preparing to purl on; that way you know where you are and you won’t drop a stitch! I check the stitch tension about every inch or so; it can be tightened one stitch at a time - best to stitch looser as you can always tighten. Also, count often to make sure you you still have same number of stitches on each needle.