Draft
Long Tail Cast On
The everyday cast on. One motion with two strands, firm with a little stretch.
8 min videoGood for almost everything, stockinette, ribbing
The long tail cast on is the jack of all trades. It is one of the first cast ons most people learn, and it works for almost everything, from plain stockinette to ribbing. The edge is firm and good looking, with a moderate amount of stretch, and it blends into stockinette especially well.
It makes a knitted row as you cast on. So if you are knitting stockinette, start with a wrong side row: the first knit row is already there.
It is quick once your hands find the rhythm. The one catch is the tail. Measure it with the wraps in step one, or you run out before the last stitch.
1 Measure your tail
Wrap the working yarn around the needle five times, then slide the wraps off. That length of yarn is what five stitches take. Measure out that much for every five stitches you are casting on, add a hand's width to be safe, and that is your tail. Run short and you start over.
2 Make a slip knot
Make a U in the yarn where the tail ends and twist it into an X. Push the working yarn through the loop and pull the tail to tighten it. Slip the knot onto the needle.
3 Set up the slingshot
Hold the needle in your right hand. Spread the two strands apart with your left thumb and forefinger, the tail over your thumb and the working yarn over your forefinger, and hold both ends in your other fingers for a little tension. Draw your hand back so the yarn makes a V. If you are not in the V, it will not work.
4 Go up through the thumb loop
Bring the needle up under the strand that runs around the outside of your thumb, so the tip comes up through the loop on your thumb.
5 Catch the strand on your forefinger
Swing the needle over to the strand on your forefinger. Go over it, then hook it from underneath so it sits on the needle.
6 Bring it back through the thumb loop
With that strand on the needle, come back down through the loop on your thumb, the same loop you went up through.
7 Let go and snug it up
Drop the loop off your thumb and pull the tail to tighten the new stitch. Snug, not tight. The stitches should still slide along the needle. That is what keeps them even.
8 Then keep going
Once your hands know it, the whole stitch is one motion: up through the thumb, over the finger, back through the thumb, tighten. That rhythm is why this cast on is so fast.