That is the first response to no Internet for the thoroughly modern connected mind, and I am nothing if not a thoroughly modern connected old fashioned person.
I tried working the secret project from the picked up stitches after yesterday's amputation. I had hoped to transpose the lace pattern for knitting down, but I did not have much luck. (Smarter, less stubborn people than I would have known this) Knitting the pattern without transposing the lace design would have meant giving someone an upside down 'horseshoe', which as all westerners know, is bad luck. Horseshoes (and therefore all horsehoe-ish shapes) must be placed so your luck does not run out. I must knit and then graft a garter row to a garter row. Before I attempt it, I wanted to practise.
Out comes my trusty ball of leftover 1824 Wool (Always use nice bits to play with. It makes practise much more fun.). I like to try to figure things out on my own first. I have often gained a better understanding of my successes if I fail a few times first. Failing first is easy. Failing and learning from it is harder.
Since grafting mimics the knit stitch, and I understood how to graft two stockinette pieces together, grafting two garter rows together couldn't be that hard to figure out. This is my first attempt. Since every row is a knit stitch, I figured every row should be approached that way first. Regular stockinette grafting, after the set up row, is knit, purl, purl, knit.
Turned out nice. 
On one side. Predictably, the other side looks like a nice stockinette stitch. 
I played with a few other variations and gave up. Failing was good, and I learned a few things about the way grafting is going to perform when you do different things and what different grafting errors will look like. But I was still missing something simple.
This is where the Internet let me down, so I hit the books. I received Vogue Knitting as a gift for Christmas. I actually chose 2 reference works. One is Nancy Wiseman's Knitters Book of Finishing Techniques and the other the Vogue. I have ended up using the Wiseman book on a regular basis, and was beginning to regret ordering the Vogue. This morning Vogue save my buns.
Right there, page 101 and 102, spelled out in a nice simple line of drawings and text, was how to graft for a garter stitch.
The last half of the row is the correct work. So simple. After the set up stitches of two purls, Knit purl knit purl. Of course!
I'd have gotten there shortly by playing with it and thinking about what the different moves would do to the stitches on the needles. The reasoning behind it is quite simple. Vogue saved a bunch of time I just don't want to waste. This morning was just a further reminder that knitting happens by standing on the shoulders of all those who have knit before, just as much as it happens on the needles.
No matter how long you have knit, you still should have access to good reference material. A good book, like Vouge Knitting - the Ultimate Knitting Book will stand you in very good stead.
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