The purpose of a provisional cast on is to keep the cast-on stitches live so you can come back to them after knitting the main stitches. This is great if
Lifted increase Lifted increase is made by working into the stitch below as well as into the stitch itself. The result is almost invisible, but there is a definite slant
Raised Increases Raised increase is made by picking up a horizontal strand between two stitches and working it as if it were a stitch. There are two ways for this