The knitted on cast-on is a very strong and reasonably stretchy cast on to start your knitting project with. It’s the cast on I use most often because it is just so easy to do. Personally, I wouldn’t use it for a knitting project that would be blocked heavily. For all other applications, though, it makes a very nice edge. Think for example of edges of garments, non-lace blankets etc.
This particular method is also great for the beginner knitter because it is basically the knit stitch that is used to cast on. In this post, I’ll show you how to do it!
The knitted on cast-on step by step
1. Take a length of yarn from your ball of yarn.
2. Make a slip knot….
3. ….and insert the needle into the upper loop and tighten the slip knot onto the needle. This is the first stitch. Make sure to leave enough on the tail of the yarn to weave in later.
It is also possible not to use a slip knot and just loop the yarn around the needle for your first stitch, thus avoiding the knit in the corner of your work. For the sake of this tutorial, however, I’m going with the slip knot version.
4. Take your second needle and insert the tip into the stitch with the needle under your main needle. Insert at an angle so your needles cross as pictured.
5. Hold the crossed needles together, take the yarn connected to your ball and wrap it around the bottom needle: go around, and then over. Depending on your knitting style this can be done with either your left or your right hand. The end result is however always the yarn wrapped around the needle as pictured.
6. Take the bottom needle and bring it back through the stitch pulling the yarn with it in a loop.
7. Now transfer the new loop from the bottom needle to the other needle and tighten the yarn. You have now cast on a stitch!
8. Repeat steps 4-7 until you have reached the desired amount of stitches on your needle.
And that is all there is to it! The knitted on cast-on looks like this after a few more stitches have been cast on.
