Draft
Cast-OnsCast Ons for Beginners
Backwards Loop Cast On
The simplest cast on there is. Quick, loose, and handy for adding stitches mid-row.
6 min videoGood for adding stitches mid-row, thumb gussets
The backwards loop cast on, also called the E cast on, the thumb cast on or the simple cast on, is the most basic way to put stitches on a needle. It is a row of hitches that interlock, and it is so easy that many people learn it first.
It is quick, and you can make it with any length of yarn, so it is the cast on to reach for when a pattern tells you to add stitches partway through, at a buttonhole or a thumb gusset. The same loop also works as a make one increase.
The catch is the first row. The loops tighten and loosen as you knit them, so you often get stretched strands between the stitches, and the edge is not firm. It is almost impossible to cast on too tightly with it, which makes it a good one to try if your edges are always tight. In lace it almost disappears, which suits open patterns.
1 Hold the needle and the yarn
Hold the needle in your dominant hand and hold the working yarn along with it. Where the yarn meets your thumb is where the end of your tail will be. Leave enough tail to weave in later.
2 Draw the yarn out into a bar
Pull the working yarn away from the needle with your other hand so it makes a straight bar between your hands.
3 Lay your thumb across and twist
Lay your thumb across the top of that bar, then flip your thumb around so the yarn twists into a loop around it.
4 Put the loop on the needle
Place the loop on your thumb onto the tip of the needle. Slide your thumb out, lay the loop down and tighten it up.
5 Snug it up to the last stitch
Do the same again. As you tighten each new loop, bring it right up against the stitch before it. You do not want any loose strands between the stitches.
6 Not too tight
Do not tighten the loops so much that they cannot move along the needle. A little looser and they slide easily, which makes the first row much easier to knit.
7 Then keep going
Keep placing loops on the needle until you have the number of stitches you need. Because you can do this with any amount of yarn, it works for adding stitches in the middle of a pattern too.