Start from the beginning : cast-on

   As time goes by I will show you a collection of stitch patterns to be done knitting. From plain stitches to lace, I will be showing you different stitches, because this allows you to give a different appearance to your projects.

   The first thing you should learn is casting-on, knit and purl stitches, and binding-off. Once you know how to do these, you will already be able to do different patterns just combining knit and purl stitches.  
 

   Let’s begin with cast-on. I’m beginner at filming videos, but I find it the best way to explain how to cast-on. There are several different ways of casting-on. We may need a provisional (can be useful for some projects) or a definitive cast-on. There are also different finishing depending on the cast-on technique used. There are also some cast-on techniques useful for casting-on new stitches in an on-going project.

   The technique I’m going to show you today is the one I like most because of the finishing it gives to the garment. Is one of the cast-on ways my mother taught me, and I had never tried to put a name before today. I’ve been researching, but I haven’t found the name for this technique. I thought it would be the long tail cast-on, because you use a long tail of yarn, but it is not the same.

 

   For this technique, you have to take a tail of yarn long enough to cast-on the desired number of stitches. This can be a bit tricky, because if you calculate wrong and your tail is too short, you will have to undo the work and begin again. And this can be of no significance if you’re casting-on 20 stitches, but when you have to cast-on 100 stitches…it’s not going to make you happy. To calculate the length of the tail you need a pair of tricks can be used. You can put the yarn around the needle as many times as the number of stitches you need, not too tight. With this method, I always run out of yarn before I finish the cast-on. It must be because I don’t do it loose enough. If you put the yarn around the needle twice the number of stitches, it usually will be too much. It doesn’t matter if you’re casting-on a few stitches, you can use the remaining tail to weave in the end. But if you have to cast-on several stitches, it’s a waste of yarn. So, as I am a science and number woman, here is what I usually do: I put the yarn around the needle, loosely, I measure that piece of yarn, I multiply by the number of final stitches I want, and I sum 10 or 15 cm (4-6") to have enough tail to weave in the end when finishing.

   I have filmed this short video, showing you how to do it. The audio is in Spanish. I think my spoken English is not that good to make the English version of the audio. As the audio is not really important to understand the video, I will not translate it or put subtitles unless you ask me for it.

   I’m learning about how to improve filming short videos, so your constructive comments about what should be improved will be appreciated.