Knitting - Casting On

Toni Lipe: Hi, I am Toni Lipe with Toni's Design Studio. Today, we are talking about how to knit. Now, we are going to talk about casting on. Before we start to knit, we have to get stitches on our knitting needle. To start, we take our Worsted Weight Yarn and we measure out a length, and first of all we have to start with a slip knot and it's just a standard slip knot where you loop the thread through and then pull the loop through and the slip knot slides back and forth. It's like finger knitting when you were a child. You slide the slip knot on to your knitting needle and this is actually your first stitch. So, there we gotten started, we have one stitch on our knitting needle. Now, to get the rest of them.

This procedure takes both hands. You hold your knitting needle, which is your working needle with your one stitch in your right hand and with your left hand you have to take your yarn and form an L with your fingers and go between those two strands of yarn. With your remaining three fingers you want to grab the tail ends, so that your yarn looks like that in your hand.

Now, to get the stitches on to the knitting needle, you have to take the point of your needle and scoop up the bottom thread, bottom yarn on your thumb and then reach up and scoop the yarn on your index finger through that loop on your thumb. Release your thumb and snug up your stitch and that is your second stitch. Let's do that again. I am taking my knitting needle; I am scooping up that bottom yarn on my thumb and now scooping the top thread on my index finger through the loop on my thumb, releasing my thumb and snugging up the yarn. Let's do that a few more times. It takes a while to get used to the cast on, but once you do, it can go very quickly.

As you see the cast on edge is different on both sides. There is a smooth side or a public side as I like to call it. This would be the right side of your knitting project and then there is also the back side which is a little bit bumpy, doesn't look quite as tidy as the public side. Once again you have your tail of your yarn and the yarn connected to your skin of yarn. You take your thumb and index finger and go in between the two yarns threads and spread them out and grab the remaining tail yarns with your remaining three fingers. Take your point of needle and scoop it into the bottom yarn on your thumb and then catch the yarn on your index finger and pull it through the loop. Release your thumb and snug up the stitch. You will do this procedure for as many stitches as you need for your knitting project.

So, this is how you cast on to begin knitting. Next, we will talk about the knit stitch.