Draft
Casting On in the Middle of Your Work
How to add stitches in the middle of a row.
4 min videoGood for pockets, gussets, buttonholes
Sometimes a pattern asks you to add stitches partway through a row: separating the sleeves of a sweater, making a buttonhole, adding a pocket or a gusset. Any of three cast ons you may already know will do it.
The thumb cast on is the quickest and the easiest, but it is the least sturdy. The knitted on cast on, worked with a second needle, is firmer. The cable cast on, worked between the stitches, gives the strongest edge, and it is the favorite here.
Whichever you use, expect a small gap where the new stitches join the old row. Once you have knit back over it, it is hard to see.
1 The quick way: thumb cast on
Where the new stitches need to go, start making backwards loops over the needle with your thumb and keep going across. It is the easiest way, but also the least sturdy, so it is not the favorite.
2 Or knit the new stitches on
Take a second needle. Knit into the last stitch on the row, and instead of slipping the old stitch off, place the new loop onto the left needle. That is a knitted on cast on, the same idea as the purled on and ribbed cast ons.
3 Add each stitch as you go
Keep knitting into the newest stitch and placing each loop back on the needle until you have the number you need. Expect a small gap where the new stitches start. Once you knit back over it, it will hardly show.
4 Best: go between the first two stitches
For the cable cast on, insert the right needle between the first two stitches on the row, as if that gap were a stitch.
5 Wrap, draw through, place it on
Bring the yarn over the needle, draw it through the gap, and place that new stitch onto the left needle.
6 Then keep going
Go in between the two newest stitches each time and repeat until you have the stitches you need. This edge is the most sturdy of the three, which is why it is the favorite.