A provisional cast on holds your cast on stitches live so they can be knit later – it allows you to knit in both directions.
This is a very useful technique and I use it a lot to create seamless garments and accessories.
Although there are a lot of ways to provisionally cast on stitches (and I have tried many of them), this one is my favourite:
With a crochet hook, you crochet the stitches directly onto your needle. The crochet chain can later be removed to expose the live stitches.
It’s fast & easy!
Here’s how it works in detail:
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- Materials: Yarn, Knitting Needles, Crochet Hook & Spare Yarn
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- Step 1: With waste yarn, make a slip knot and palce it on the crochet hook
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- Step 2: Place yarn behind the needle, then pull it over the needle and through the loop
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- Step 3: Place yarn behind the needle again
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- Step 4: Pull yarn over the needle and though the loop again
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- Step 5: Repeat Step 3 & 4 until you have cast on the required number of stitches
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- Step 6: Break waste yarn and pull through loop
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- Step 7: Mark the end with a knot.
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- Step 8: Knit according to pattern
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- Step 9: To unravel the cast-on stitches, find the marked tail end
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- Step 10: Pass the tail end back out through the loop
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- Step 11: Pull carefully to unravel the crochet chain and expose the stitches
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- Step 12: Slip stitches on your needle
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- Step 13: Don’t forget the last stitch, or you’ll end up with one stitch less than you’ve cast on!
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- Finished!
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