Completing a single unimodular row into an invertible square matrix (1st question).
We have just seen that the $d$-Hermit property for a ring $R$ ensures that every unimodular row of $R$ with size $d + 2$$\ge d + 2$ is completable in a matrix of $\text{GL}_{d +2}(R)$. There are also criteria that apply to an individual row of a given size. Suslin's $n!$ Theorem [9, Theorem III.4.1] has already been mentioned in Steven Landburg's answer. Section III of [9] contains several other interesting criteria of the same flavor, e.g., Corollaries III.5.5 and III.5.8.
Completing a matrix with multiple rows into an invertible square matrix (2nd question).
Proof of Lemma 2. We shall prove that if two unimodular rows $\alpha, \beta \in \text{Um}_n(R)$ are connected by an edge in $\Gamma_n(R)$ then they are connected by an edge path of length two in $H_n(R)$, which establishes $(1)$. Indeed, consider a matrix $M \in \text{GL}_n(R)$ whose first two rows are $\alpha$ and $\beta$. Set $\gamma \Doteq (M^{-1}(e_1 + e_2))^t$, then we have $\alpha \gamma^t = \beta \gamma^t = 1$. Assume now that $n = 2$ and let $\alpha, \beta, \gamma \in \text{Um}_n(R)$ be such that $\alpha \gamma^t = \beta \gamma^t = 1$. Write $\gamma = (\gamma_1, \gamma_2)$ and set $\gamma' = (-\gamma_2, \gamma_1)$. As the $2$-by-$2$ matrices $\begin{pmatrix} \alpha \\ \gamma' \end{pmatrix}$ and $\begin{pmatrix} \beta \\ \gamma' \end{pmatrix}$ have determinant $1$, the rows $\alpha$ and $\beta$ are connected by an edge path of length two in $\Gamma_2(R)$. Assertion $(2)$ follows immediately.