Draft
Crochet Provisional Cast On
A provisional cast on made with a crochet hook and waste yarn.
9 min videoGood for provisional edges, hems, grafting
The crochet provisional cast on gives you an edge of live stitches instead of a finished one. You chain a length of waste yarn with a crochet hook, knit your first row into the bumps on the back of the chain, and later pull the chain out. The stitches are left waiting for your needle.
Use it when you will knit from that edge again in the other direction, or when you want to graft the start of a piece to its end, say an infinity scarf worked in the round. Live stitches at both ends graft together with Kitchener stitch and the join is seamless.
You do not need to know how to crochet. The chain stitch is the only one you use, and the video shows it.
1 Slip knot on the hook
Start with a piece of waste yarn in a different color. Make a slip knot and put it on your crochet hook. Make sure it sits around the stem of the hook, not in the crook.
2 Chain more than you need
Yarn over the hook with the waste yarn and draw it through the loop on the hook. That is a chain stitch. Keep going until you have about four more chains than the stitches you are casting on.
3 Pull out a loop of slack
When the chain is long enough, draw a long loop of yarn through the last stitch and let it hang. You will need that loop later to undo the chain.
4 Find the bumps on the back
Flip the chain over. Along the back there is a spine of little bumps, one per chain. Those are the bumps you will pick up and knit through.
5 Draw the yarn through a bump
Start about two chains in. Put the hook into the third bump, catch the yarn you will be knitting with and draw it through. Leave a tail you can weave in later.
6 Seat the loop on the needle
Slide your knitting needle into the loop so the back leg of the stitch sits behind the needle. If the back leg lands in front, the stitch is twisted, so turn it the other way. Tighten it down. The first one is a little finicky because of the loose tail.
7 Then keep going
Hook into the next bump, draw the working yarn through, turn the loop onto the needle and tighten. You can pull the yarn through with the needle tip instead, but the hook is easier. Repeat until every stitch is on the needle, leaving a couple of spare chains at the end, then knit your pattern as normal.
8 Pick up the live stitches
When you are ready to use this edge, pick up the stitches on the front side with a second needle. The first one sits oddly on the edge and is easy to miss. For the rest, go under the first leg of each stitch going up. You should end with the same number of stitches on the bottom needle as on the top.
9 Pull the waste yarn out
Go to the end where you drew the extra loop through and tug on it. The chain comes undone. Pull the slip knot out and you have live stitches going the other way, ready to knit from or to graft.