How to Knit: The Knit Cast On

When I was learning how to knit, my mom would always cast on for me. I don’t actually remember learning how to cast on when I was a kid, so I don’t know if I ever knew how to do it myself until I was older and re-learning.

It’s understandable to want to skip that part when you’re teaching someone how to knit. Casting on isn’t that exciting, it doesn’t feel like knitting and it can be confusing (especially if you’re trying to teach the long tail cast on to someone who has never knit before).

But not teaching a cast on means you can’t start a knitting project unless you have a knitter with you. Which is fine if you’re teaching someone in your household, but not so great if you’re teaching a coworker, friend, random person who won’t have access to you whenever they need a cast on.

So whenever I teach people how to knit I always start with the knit cast on.

It’s pretty quick and easy to learn and it’s basically teaching you how to work a knit stitch, so once you’re comfortable with the cast on you’ve learned what you need to know to start knitting.

Also because it’s based on the knit stitch it’s easy for new knitters to remember how to do it as long as they remember how to form the knit stitch.

And while many knitters move on from this basic cast on to do others later on, this is a cast on you can always use. It’s slower than the long tail cast on (once you get the hang of long tail) but you don’t have to have a long tail to do the knit cast on, just a slip knot.

This also makes it a solid choice if you’re casting on stitches at the end of a row, because you can just work from the last stitch and add as many as you need. It makes a nice, sturdy cast on that looks nice, and it gives new knitters confidence because it makes learning how to knit look easy once they’ve gotten the hang of the cast on.

I recently made this video showing how to do it, in case you need a refresher or are teaching someone else how to knit.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTOfSTMVp2Q]

Do you ever use the knit cast on? Did you learn this way? I’d love to hear about it!

Next Pattern:

I happen to live in the Northern Hemisphere, but I know we have a lot of Southern Hemisphere friends, too, who are heading into the cooler months as we are warming up. Whichever one of the seasons you’re in, you might want to stitch up this sweet little hood.

This pattern by saskie&co is called snug hood and it uses two colors of yarn to make a close-fitting pixie style hood (almost a balaclava but it doesn’t cover your face, though there is a neck covering portion to keep you a little warmer). You can use the fingering weight wool and mohair held together that are called for in the pattern, or use a single strand of DK weight yarn.

The neck portion and the edging around the face are worked in ribbing in a single color, while the body of the hat includes an allover colorwork flower pattern. The project is worked both flat and in the round and there is colorwork that is knit flat, which means you’ll have to purl in colorwork (which some people don’t like; also, you can’t see what you’re doing as well on the back of the work).

The pattern comes in one size and the colorwork is charted. Testers noted this is a quick and easy project and a great way to learn some new skills (chart reading, working stranded colorwork flat) if you’ve never tried those things before. They noted the hood is cute, comfortable and warm, and a few said it didn’t take as much yarn as the pattern suggests, so bear that in mind if you’re trying to use stash.

Speaking of the pattern notes, check out all the cute color variations in the projects on Ravelry. From pink and red to blue and white to gray and cream, there are lots of great options to think about.

You can buy this pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: saskie&co]

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