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An Easy Way to Take the Guesswork Out of the Long Tail Cast On

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how to know the right length for a long tail cast onI love doing the long tail cast on. It’s what I use probably 98 percent of the time. It’s quick and easy once you know how to do it, but it can be a challenge, especially when you’re casting on a lot of stitches, to know how long your long tail should be.

A reader recently sent in this video tip that will help you make your long tail the right length every time; it’s actually the method I use most of the time when I’m casting on this way, too.

I’ll save you the click and tell you that it’s a matter of wrapping the yarn around the needle once for each stitch you need (or if you’re casting on a bunch, wrap, say, 20 times and then use that amount as a measurement to get up to the number you need).

I would add that you should do this kind of loosely because if you wrap the yarn too tightly you won’t have enough to make the stitches.

Do you do something like this when you’re estimating for a long tail cast on? Do you actually measure the length you need or do you guess? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[Photo via Sheep Thrills.]

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Comments

  1. When doing the long-tail cast-on, I use 2 strands of yarn…either from 2 balls or from the outside and inside of 1 ball. You can cast-on any number of stitches you need without having to estimate, or without ever having a tail that ends up too long/short. Once the stitches are cast-on, you just need to cut one yarn and continue knitting with the other.

  3. Once, I cast on 100 stitches, pulled them out and stretched that yarn between my arms. Now I know if I stretch out my arms as far as they go, with the yarn in my hands, I have about 100 stitches worth of yarn. To make up for needle sizes, I generally add a bit of yarn to the final amount. It usually works out pretty close and any excess can be used for seaming, if necessary

Have you read?

Pumpkin Knitting Patterns

There are so many great pumpkin knitting patterns out there, and it looks like I haven’t done a roundup of pumpkin knitting patterns in a few years, so it’s high time for another one.

The Lancaster Pumpkins from Cuddle Bunny Knits on Etsy are classic, made with stockinette stitch in the round and using super bulky yarn. If you’ve never knit a pumpkin before, this is a good place to start.

Jazz it up a little bit by knitting ribbing instead of straight stockinette, which gives your knit pumpkin a little more texture, too. This one is form Jessies Knits on Etsy. This one is worked flat on straight needles and there are three size options to choose from.

Or try the Pumpkin Patch pattern from Blue Sky Fibers, which is a free pattern on Ravelry. It’s worked with two strands of worsted weight yarn held together to give your pumpkins a marled look, or you can keep it solid. 

There’s another free ribbed pumpkin knitting pattern at Yarnspirations that is really cute. These are knit flat and seamed, and they come in three different sizes. You can either stack them as a centerpiece to decorate a table or you can leave them separate. Or make a whole pumpkin patch and do some of both! I love that they chose unconventional colors so you can see you don’t have to be limited to orange when you knit up your pumpkins.

Made by Devrie on Etsy has these cute pumpkins with twisted stitches (they look like cables but it’s only moving one stitch at a time) that you can make in any size with any yarn you like.

The Twisted Heart Pumpkin for Etsy seller Percival Makes Things uses cables to make a heart shape on the side of the pumpkin. It’s worked in the round and the cable pattern is charted.

And while I was really sticking to plain pumpkins here, not knit jack o’lanterns, I can’t resist sharing this beaded jack o’lantern knitting pattern from Knit Cole Studio on Etsy. The base pumpkin is simple Stockinette and you can stitch on beads in whatever design you like to make your face, or keep it plain.

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