Great finishing is a sum of small parts! You only need a couple of skills for beautiful finishing results. We will look at three-needle bind off for shoulder situations, mattress stitch for invisibly joining the sides of knit fabrics and grafting for connecting stitches row to row and learn how to combine these techniques to easily join stitches to rows. You’ll never fear finishing again! Technique Requirements: knit/purl, cast on/bind off

In the same light, smooth, worsted-weight yarn, make five squares of stocking stitch (stockinette) with no edge treatments. Minimum size 12 sts by 16 (or until it’s a square) rows tall. (If you would like to make larger swatches, you are welcome to do so, it will give you more practice room.) Please do not use any form of edge treatment, i.e., knit all the stitches on knit rows and purl all the stitches on purl rows. Bind off two of the swatches and cut the yarn. Leave two swatches on the needles with enough yarn for one more row attached to one of them. The fifth swatch, cut off the main yarn and work 5 more rows of stocking stitch in a brightly contrasting, similar weight yarn and bind off. Don’t neaten any ends, but the squares maybe blocked if desired.

Blunt large-eyed sewing needle. Scissors. 2 yd of second contrasting color similar in weight to the swatch yarn.