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

[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.