Basic Casting On
Making a Slipknot
The first stitch on your needle for most cast-on methods is a slipknot.
Step 1: Hold the yarn in your left hand about 8 inches from the end. With your right hand, make a circle with the yarn (fig. 1a). If it's helpful, hold the circle together between your index finger and thumb to prevent it from slipping away.
 Making a Slipknot: Figure 1a |
Step 2: With the working yarn behind the circle, insert the knitting needle through the circle from front to back and catch the working yarn, pulling it through the circle and forming a loop (fig. 1b).
 Making a Slipknot: Figure 1b |
Step 3: With the new loop on the needle in your right hand, gently pull both yarns (the tail and the working yarn attached to the ball) beneath the needle, then pull on the working yarn to tighten the new loop so that it fits snuggly around the needle (fig. 1c).
 Making a Slipknot: Figure 1c |
Simple Cast-on (Backward Loop Cast-on)
This cast-on is probably the easiest to learn, but it doesn't have a neat edge like other cast-ons. Use it when working a few cast-on stitches or on buttonholes. This cast-on tends to grow longer and become less manageable as you work the first row of knitting, and the cast-on stitches tighten, making it difficult to insert the needle.
Step 1: Place the slipknot on an empty needle with the yarn tail in back and the working yarn in front. Hold this needle with the slipknot in your right hand.
Step 2: With working yarn in your left hand, wrap the working yarn over your thumb from front to back, and grasp it with your remaining fingers to tension (fig. 4a).
 Simple Cast-on (Backward Loop Cast-on): Figure 4a |
Step 3: Insert the needle under the yarn looped around your thumb, working from bottom to top (fig. 4b). Pull up on the needle a little as you slide the yarn off your thumb and onto the needle.
 Simple Cast-on (Backward Loop Cast-on): Figure 4b |
Step 4: Gently pull on the working yarn to tighten the new stitch on the needle (fig. 4c).
 Simple Cast-on (Backward Loop Cast-on): Figure 4c |
