Article: Instead of joining your stitches in the round right away, knit back and forth across the stitches you have cast onto your circular or double pointed needles. This will create some length and make it easier to tell if your stitches are straight. Knit the stitches as if you are only working across 2 straight needles. Make sure to follow your knitting pattern's specifications if you are using one. For example, if you needle to work a stockinette stitch, then you cannot just knit all of the stitches as you would when working this stitch in the round. To work this stitch back and forth, you would need to knit a row, then purl a row, and repeat. When you are ready to join your stitches, you can either use the basic method or the invisible joining method. Either option will work to connect the two sides. Because you have joined the sides after working a few rows back and forth, you will have a slight gap in your work. To close this gap, thread a yarn needle with the same color and type of yarn you are using to knit. Then, weave the yarn in and out of the stitches on both sides of the seam to close the gap. Tie off the yarn and cut the excess when you are finished.

What is a summary?
Knit back and forth a few times. Join the sides using the basic or invisible joining method. Seam the open edge when your project is finished.