Knitting Casting On

When you're first beginning to learn how to knit you may find that learning to cast on seems more difficult than it should be. Part of the reason for this is that there are so many different terms for the various methods you can use to begin a knitting project that all describe the same things. In reality there are five basic methods of casting on even though they go by a number of different names.

For beginners one of the easiest and fastest ways to cast on is the single cast on. It is good for a variety of different types of projects including socks and even sweaters. They can also be used on projects where you do not want the edge of the project to take away from the rest of your work, particularly when working with materials such as lace. It has good stretch to it but you have to be careful to keep even tension while you're working with it.

The cable cast method is very useful when you need a nice firm edge that doesn't stretch. The thing that makes this type of cast on a little tricky is that it is quite similar to the knitted cast on. The only difference between the two is needle placement. While the cable cast is firm, the knitted cast on is relatively stretchy.

Perhaps one of the most popular methods is the long tail cast on. Because it is so popular it also has a number of other names such as: the Y. cast on, slingshot, two strand, sling shot, continental and double cast on. It's easy to see why just one method can be confusing with all of those aliases. The long tail can take some practice to get exactly the right but when you know what you're doing it is also quite quick and easy. You it can serve as a fine edge for a number of different things since it is versatile because of not being too firm or stretchy. In other words it is a very good general purpose starter.

Similar to the long tail is the twisted cast on, also called the German and the old Norwegian. It works a lot like the long tail, but be extra twist gives it a lot more stretch making it an excellent choice for projects such as socks and hats that need a lot of elasticity in the edge stitch.

Now that you know a little bit about each of the most popular cast on methods, you should be able to choose which one you want to use for your next project more appropriately. That also means that finding a good tutorial for each stage will be far easier if you need a little guidance. You can find excellent instructional articles and videos all over the Internet for each of these kinds of cast on methods.