Occasionally you may be knitting a garment that is worked form shoulder to hem. That means that the shoulder will be worked as a cast-on row. The only difference in working the shoulder seam is that the V or inverted V shape of the stitches is reversed [pic 19].

19: Two cast-on rows joined by matching stitches.

The horizontal seam method also works perfectly if the garment has been made with the purl side facing, or in rib, or in any patterned stitch [pic 20].

20: Matching stitch to stitch on a rib pattern produces a perfect result.

Work the shoulder seam along the stitches under the cast-off row [pic 21].

21: Well matched ribs.

If you find it hard to see the stitches, just gently pull the cast-off row away from the previous row to locate the line of stitches you will need to use.

A side seam of a garment that is knitted from side to side is also a horizontal seam where you need to match stitch to stitch. Sometimes the two edges to be joined are both cast-off rows, and you now know how they should be joined. Sometimes one edge is a cast off row and the other edge is a cast on row. The method to remember is that you are joining a row of stitches, in sequence, to another row of stitches. Hopefully, your counting and knitting have been correct and you will have the same number of stitches to join to each other. Again, ignore cast-off and cast-on rows and concentrate on matching and joining the stitches on the next rows. To do the ultimate match, in this case, when you leave aside half of the first stitch on the top piece, you will then join a V shape to an inverted V shape to make the match. I know your head is spinning with V’s, just try it and you will see it works [pic 22].

22: Cast-off row joined to a cast-on row.
 
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