Draft
Channel Island Cast On
A traditional cast on with a knotted, beaded-looking edge.
5 min videoGood for decorative edges, ganseys
The Channel Island cast on is a decorative cast on. It makes a thick picot edge, a row of little knots along the bottom of the fabric.
It has a good amount of stretch, so it suits socks and cuffs, and anywhere you want the edge itself to be a feature. Because every pass makes a yarn over and a knot, it also sits well under ribbing.
The construction is a little odd: a doubled strand makes the knots and the single working yarn makes the stitches between them. Once your hands have it, it is fairly easy. The two things to get right are the direction of the wraps around your thumb and the spacing of the knots.
1 Measure out a doubled length
This cast on works with two strands from one ball. Pull out a length of yarn about twice as long as the finished edge, with a tape measure or by wrapping the yarn around the needle a few times. Fold it back on itself at that point. The doubled part is what makes the knots.
2 Make a slip knot with both strands
At the fold, make a slip knot through both strands at once, leaving a little tail on the end. Put it on the needle. You now have two things to work with: the single working yarn from the ball and the doubled strand.
3 Yarn over with the working yarn
Take the single working yarn and bring it over the needle to make a yarn over. Hold it there. It stays on the needle through the next moves.
4 Wrap the doubled strand twice around your thumb
Take the doubled strand and wrap it around your thumb twice, counterclockwise. Bring your thumb underneath the strand and around, two full times. The direction matters. Going over instead of under will not make the knot.
5 Knit through both wraps
Put the needle into both wraps on your thumb and knit them with the single working yarn: bring the yarn around as if to knit and draw it through the wraps. Keep the yarn over in place while you do it.
6 Tighten the knot down
Slip the wraps off your thumb and pull the doubled strand to tighten the knot up against the needle. You now have two stitches: the yarn over and the picot knot.
7 Then repeat across
Yarn over, wrap the doubled strand twice around your thumb, knit through both wraps, tighten. Every pass casts on two stitches, so keep going until you have the number your pattern needs. Watch that the gaps between the knots stay even as you tighten. That spacing is what makes the edge look right.
8 Trim the leftover strand
You will likely have some doubled yarn left over. Cut it at the fold so you have two tails, and weave both into the finished piece.