What is the Knitted Cast On?
The Knitted cast on is a great technique to learn. When you started knitting, you probably learned the Long Tail cast on or the Backward Loop cast on, both of which are very easy to learn. The Long Tail cast on is the most widely used cast on, but it comes with its disadvantages. As the name suggests, you need a long tail before starting the cast on. If you need to cast on a large number of stitches, it gets more and more difficult to guess how long the tail should be. I’m sure many knitters have experienced the yarn tail being too short, and having to redo the cast on all over again. The Backward Loop cast on, while very easy, does not give a very neat edge to your work.
How to do the Knitted Cast On
With the Knitted Cast on, you start with a short yarn tail and a slipknot, and you create the next stitch by knitting into the slipknot and putting the new loop onto the needle. Each new stitch is created with the yarn coming from the yarnball, so the yarntail only needs to be long enough for you to sew it in later.
To create a stitch with the Knitted cast on, you insert your righthand needle into the previous stitch, wrap the yarn around your needle, pull the yarn forward through the stitch and put the new loop onto the lefthand needle. It does not matter how you put this loop onto the needle, as long as you do it consistently.
Alternatively to inserting the needle into the previous stitch, you can also insert the needle in between the previous stitch and the one next to it. This gives a slightly sturdier edge to your work.
Is it stretchy?
The Knitted cast on is not considered to be a stretchy cast on. Therefore it is not advised as a cast on for ribbing, but it does give a nice edge to stockinette and garter stitch knitted pieces.
You might like to try..
Eager to try out a different cast on technique? Why not try one of the following:
Cabled Cast On [to be added]
Long Tail Cast On [to be added]