Sunday, January 25, 2015

Stretchy Knit Cast On

I have found a very handy long tail version for casting on when working in ribbing that is so much easier than the provisional cast on. A lot of my projects are worked in the round and I find this quick and effective. There is a slight flare but it's minimal and the ease to use this cast on outweighs the impact of the flare.

Excuse the image but my Wacom tablet was being touchy today so I just used my mouse to draw the image.

Looking at the top image you will see the hand is in position for a standard V-shaped long tail cast on. You will grab the yarn at A and then at B.

In the bottom image you will notice that the yarn tail has been switched to rest inside the thumb area, between thumb and index finger. You will grab the new A position and then grab at B.

Count the slip stitch as stitch one and cast on with standard long tail cast on every even number and the alternate every odd number. After you have cast on several stitches you will notice that they appear paired up and one of the pair has a purl looking bump. Voila! you have cast on in ribbing format and it was as easy as shifting the yarn tail from outside of thumb to inside of thumb.

It is easy to switch. Just drop yarn from thumb and pick up in new position. Once you have done a few it will be second nature.

Sometimes I even cast on with this stretchy cast on when not working in ribbing because it gives the hem a nice, non-tight edge.

Hope you try this!



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