Beginner cast-on methods

[untonuggan]

I've been teaching my mom to knit, and she's got knitting/purling down pretty well. She's still struggling with casting on, though. I tend to use the double-stranded cast on (since it's the first one I learned and it works). However, she has weak hands and has been trouble coordinating everything.

What's a really simple, easy cast-on to teach a beginner? At this point it doesn't have to be super-stretchy or look amazing, but those things would be nice, too.

Thanks!

Comments

[clare_dragonfly]

I'm with you--the knitted cast-on is pretty difficult for me. And I'm not even that tight of a knitter anymore. (Probably part of it, for me, is that I'm allergic to wool so most of the yarn I knit with is not all that stretchy.)

I'm very surprised no one has suggested the long-tail method yet. It's the first one I learned and I thought it was the most common. The only problem with it is estimating how much yarn you'll need for it.

[jumpuphigh]

Long-tail is also known as double strand cast-on and that's what Liz's mom is having problems with.

[clare_dragonfly]

Ah. I Googled "double-stranded cast-on" but it didn't appear to be the same thing.

[jumpuphigh]

Well, people seem to name different things that are similar to other things the same thing so I could be completely wrong here. I know it is one of the other names for long-tail and so that is what I assumed Liz was talking about.

[jackandahat]

I'm a big fan of long-tail, it's a bugger to work out how much yarn I need (I usually seem to end up with too much) but it's definitely much easier on the hands for me.

[evilawyer]

I also like the long-tail and use it the most, but it does have the disadvantage of sometimes leading to too much tail (or not enough and starting over again). The one thing I've noticed, too, is that for beginners, the tail flopping around can be confusing or distracting.

[msmcknittington]

If you wrap the yarn around the needle the number of times you need stitches to cast on (or even a factor of the number of stitches you need to cast on and then extrapolate the length from there), you'll know exactly how long your tail needs to be. I generally add a foot onto the length, so I have something weave in at the end.

[ysobel]

You can do longtail with two strands of yarn -- e.g. one from each end of the skein, or whatever. Doesn't work so well with self-striping type yarns, and it gives you two more ends to weave in, but it means you never ever have too much or too little tail.

[ironed_orchid]

Agreed. It took me a few goes to get it without having to check instructions, but it has since become so easy that I use it for everything that doesn't call for a provisional cast on.

[clayr]

I love the long tail cast on (it's the only one that I really know and can do consistently). Agreed on the tail estimation. I'm starting to think that I should measure the tail and write down a rough stitch to tail measurement for myself. It's a little annoying to try to cast on 45 to find I can only cast on 43.