Stitch 'n Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook by Debbie Stoller

same point where it came out on the right-hand piece of fabric, carry it under the next two running bars, and come back up again.

     
    4 Finally, insert the needle back into the same point where it came out on the left-hand piece of fabric, and come up two bars later.

     
    Keep repeating those last two steps until you have about two or three inches done. Then pull the yarn taut (not tight) and watch as the two pieces of fabric come together and the seam becomes almost invisible. Just like magic!
    N OTE : The mattress stitch is intended to connect each row of knitting in one piece of fabric to each row of knitting in another piece of fabric. It will work out perfectly if you have the exact same number of rows in both your pieces. However, since nobody’s perfect, it is very likely that you
won’t
have the exact same number of rows in each piece. Don’t let it bother you. Just pick up some of the slack by sometimes taking only one running bar from one side and two running bars from the other side. That’ll even things out, and nobody will be the wiser.
Bumps in the Night
Using the Mattress Stitch on Garter-Stitch Fabric
    First, take a look at your reverse stockinette or garter fabric. Sure, it’s wall-to-wall purl bumps, but look carefully and you’ll see that half of the purl bumps are curving upward, like a smile, and the other half are curving downward, like an umbrella. The smiling bumps are called the underbumps, and the umbrella bumps are the overbumps . To sew two pieces of reverse stockinette or garter-stitch fabric together, you will pass your needle through an underbump from one side, and then through an overbump from the other side.

     
    Let a smile be your umbrella
    Start the same way as with stockinette fabric, by placing the pieces next to each other, right sides up, and tacking the yarn in place at the bottom corners of your fabric. Then:
    1 Pass the needle under the bottom-most underbump on the left-hand piece of fabric.
    2 Pass the needle under the bottom-most overbump on the right-hand piece of fabric.
    3 Insert the needle underneath the next underbump on the left-hand piece of fabric.
    4 Insert the needle under the next overbump on the right-hand piece of fabric.

     
    N OTE: When sewing garter-stitch fabric, try to grab the overbumps as close to the fabric edge as you can.
    Carry on, my wayward son. When you have a few inches done, just pull the yarn taut and watch it get sucked up like a bug in a Venus’s-flytrap. Cool, isn’t it?
Baby’s Got Backstitch
Using the Backstitch
    Unlike most seaming methods used in knitting, the backstitch makes bulky, nonstretchy seams. Still, sometimes that’s just what you’re looking for when you want a strong, stabilizing seam on a project like a bag or a backpack. To make it, start by pinning your knit fabric right sides together. Tack your yarn at the right-most end as usual, then put your needle down through both layers of fabric, about ¼ inch from the top edges, and draw it back up about ½ inch to the left. Pull the yarn through (figure 1) . Put your needle back down about ¼ inch to the right, and come up about ½ inch to the left. Now, just keep putting your needle down where you came up with your last stitch, and up about ½ inch to the left of that (figure 2) .

     

     
Top This
Connecting the Tops of Knit Pieces
    I’m going to show you two ways to sew the tops of knit pieces together—like the shoulder seam of a sweater, or the toe of a sock. They are both fun. The first is called fake grafting, and it’s the one you will probably find yourself using the most often. It is an almost invisible way of connecting two bound-off pieces of knitting together.
Faking It
Fake Grafting
    Take a look at the top edge of a bound-off piece of stockinette knitting in the photo below. You will see rows and rows of knit Vs looking at you, all nestled close together with their arms in the air. Now, turn the piece of fabric (or this page) upside down, and examine