Whipstitchin' with a Kitty

Though I have so very many other things I should be doing, I spent some time last night knitting up the back of my Summertime Tunic. I got to the turning row, admired the way it folded itself down so neatly, and finished the knitting, only to wonder "now what?"



It was with some trepidation that I tried to sort out this whole "whipstitch the live stitches" situation, but I made a few trips around the internet and came up with some good advice, along with a clue of how to do it.

One post suggested moving the live stitches onto waste yarn to facilitate sewing. I used a spare circular needle. Another explained that you simply cut a long length of yarn to do the whipstitching. Check. I made mine at least twice as long as I needed it, since, well, I'm pretty neurotic.



At this point Smokey hopped into my lap, evidently thinking I was in need of assistance.



I slipped the stitches from the circular needle onto my tapestry needle, pulled a mile of yarn through the stitch, then kind of tacked that through the back of a stitch below.



Smokey thought we were terribly clever.

I worried that it would slant left or right, so I took great pains to pull the facing straight, and I think it came out mostly alright. On hindsight, it might have behooved me to pin it in place.



Smokey had wandered off, but he came back when I had about five stitches left to sew down (he's clearly dedicated to the cause here). He helped inspect the inside of my facing, and we agreed it was not perfect, but it was tolerable.

(I like to think if he were an LOLcat, the photo on the right would be captioned "Dis knittings good!" or "I like dis!" or similar.)



He snuggled up with the backside, I gather by way of approval.



I could see some problems on the front side, but nothing terrible. In fact by the time it's all gathered on the ribbon, I think this method of attachment really will be virtually invisible.



My buddy's all, "We did well."

Now I am feeling a lot more comfortable about going on to the front, and I'm happy this tunic will be done fairly soon!