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Three Easy Cast On Techniques to Start Knitting

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Get started knitting fast with these three easy cast on techniques, perfect for beginners!

Image of a pair of white hands holding a set of dark wood knitting needles with stitches in light grey yarn.

If you are new to knitting, the first thing you need to learn before you even start to knit stitches is how to cast on your first row.

There are so many ways to cast on stitches, and it can get overwhelming to figure out where to start. I’ve narrowed down to easy to learn cast ons that I have used many times.

Easy Cast On Techniques We’ll Cover

With these three cast on techniques, you will be able to knit all kinds of projects! So grab a pair of knitting needles and some yarn and let’s get knitting!

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, be sure to check out my posts explaining basic knitting concepts, and basic knitting terms. These are designed to help you get started on your knitting journey!

How To Tie a Slipknot

The first step for each of these cast on techniques is to tie a slipknot onto one of your knitting needles. A slipknot is a simple knot that gives you an adjustable loop, like half of a bow you would tie on your shoes.

Depending on which type of cast on, you may make this loop a few inches from the end, or further in.

The Technique

First, make a loop of yarn over your fingers so that the working end of your yarn crosses over the tail end.

Image of light grey yarn looped around the first two fingers of a white person's left hand.

Then, pull a loop of the working yarn from the back to the front of the first loop.

Image of a pair of white hands pulling a loop of yarn through another to form a slip knot.

Pull gently on the yarn end to pull the knot closed. Now you have an adjustable loop.

Image of a pair of white hands pulling a slip knot tight.

Place the loop over one of your knitting needles and pull on the working end of the yarn to tighten the loop onto the needle. This counts as your first stitch, and you are ready to cast on more stitches!

The Backwards Loop Cast On

The backwards loop cast on is a super simple cast on and easy for beginners to learn.

The Technique

Start by tying a slip knot and securing it to one knitting needle. This is your first stitch.

Hold the knitting needle in your right hand. Then hold the working yarn over hand with the fingers of your left hand and hook your left thumb around the yarn from the top clockwise, to create a loop around your thumb.

Image of a pair of white hands. The right hand is holding a dark wood knitting needle. The left hand has a loop of yarn around the tip of the thumb.

Then slide your knitting needle into the loop around your thumb from beneath.

Image of a pair of white hands. The right hand is holding a dark wood knitting needle and putting the tip of the knitting needle into a loop of yarn around the left thumb.

Take your thumb out of the loop and tighten it to the knitting needle. Now you have two stitches on your knitting needle.

Image of a pair of white hands pulling a loop of yarn tight onto a dark wood knitting needle.

Repeat the loops until you have as many stitches as you need to start your pattern. Then start knitting!

Pros

  • Easy to learn
  • Quick to make
  • Tail length doesn’t matter
  • Great for mid-pattern cast ons like buttonholes and mitten thumbs

Cons

  • Easy to loose stitches when knitting the first row
  • Difficult to work off of
  • Can be too tight
Image of a dark wood knitting needle with twenty stitches labeled backwards loop cast on.

The Knit Cast On

This is another quick cast on that uses the same method as the knit stitch. You can learn to cast on and knit at the same time!

The Technique

Just like our other techniques, start with a slip knot and secure it to one knitting needle. Hold this needle in your left hand.

Insert the right-hand needle into the in the slip knot from the bottom, keeping the right needle behind the left.

Image of a crossed pair of dark wood knitting needles with a loop of yarn connecting them.

Next, wrap the working yarn around the right needle counterclockwise.

Image of a pair of crossed knitting needles with a loop of yarn joining them and yarn wrapped around the back needle.

Be careful to use the working end of the yarn, not the tail end.

If you want to learn about how to hold your yarn and needles, be sure to check out this post about different knitting styles.

Using the right needle, pull the working yarn through the slip knot. You will now have a stitch on the left needle and a stitch on the right needle.

Image of a pair of dark wood knitting needles with one loop of yarn on each needle.

Using the left-hand needle, come through the stitch on the right-hand needle from beneath. Remove the right-hand needle from the stitch. You should now have two stitches cast onto the left-hand needle.

Image of two dark wood knitting needles with a loop of yarn being moved from the right needle to the left needle.

Working from the most recent stitch, continue knitting more stitches in the same way until you reach the number of stitches you need for your pattern.

Once you get comfortable with this technique, it can go quite fast. You can keep making stitches continuously without removing the right-hand needle from each loop.

Pros

  • Fast cast on
  • learn cast on and knit stitch at the same time
  • Tail length doesn’t matter
  • Creates stable stitches to work off of

Cons

  • Only creates one row during cast on
Image of a dark wood knitting needle with twenty stitches. Image labeled knit cast on.

The Long Tail Cast On

The long tail cast on is a great technique. It is a bit more complicated to learn than the previous cast ons, but creates a beautiful cast on edge that is easy to knit off of. It also creates two rows of stitches at once!

Before You Cast On

The most important part of the long tail cast on is starting at the right point on your yarn. Like the name suggests, you will need a long tail of yarn to create this cast on. As you cast on stitches, you will use yarn from the working end and from the tail end, so you don’t want to run out as you cast on.

How long of a tail you need depends on how many stitches you need and how big the size of your knitting needles is. The more stitches and the bigger the needles, the longer tail you will need.

I have a bad habit of just guessing how long to make my tail. Sometimes it’s long enough, sometimes it’s too short, and I have to start my cast on over.

There are different ways you can estimate how much yarn you need for your tail. The easiest way I know is to start at the tail end of your yarn (leave a few inches for weaving in) and quickly wrap the yarn around your needles as many times as the number of stitches you want to cast on.

Image of a dark wood knitting needle with yarn wrapped around the needle several times.
Each wrap is approximately the amount of tail yarn you need for each long tail stitch.

No matter how you want to calculate or guess how long of a tail you need, always leave a longer tail than you think.

The Technique

After finding a point on your yarn that will give you a sufficiently long tail, tie a slip knot and secure it to one knitting needle. This is your first stitch.

Hold the knitting needle in your right hand with the tip pointing toward your left hand. You will want the tail end of the yarn closer to you, and the working end on the far side of the needle.

Image of a pair of white hands. The right hand is holding a dark wood knitting needle. The left hand has yarn wrapped around the fore finger and thumb.

Drape the ends of the yarn over your left hand so the tail end is over your thumb, and the working end is over your left hand. Hold the ends of the yarn with the remaining three fingers of your left hand.

Tip: Use the pointer finger of your right hand to keep the stitches on the knitting needle as you cast on stitches.

With your right hand, gently pull the knitting needle toward you so that a loop is visible around your left thumb. Coming from underneath, insert the knitting needle into the loop around your thumb.

Image of a knitting needle going up into a loop of yarn wrapped around a thumb.

Cross the knitting needle over to the working yarn strand over your left pointer finger. Wrap the working end of the yarn over the knitting needle counterclockwise.

Image of a knitting needle being held in a white person's right hand. The needle has picked up yarn from a loop on the person's left thumb and crossed over to pick up yarn from the loop around the left fore finger.

Pull the working yarn through the tail loop of yarn around your left thumb.

Image of a knitting needle with a loop of yarn being pulled through.

Remove your thumb from the loop of yarn and bring it underneath the knitting needle and press on the length of tail yarn to tighten the stitch on the knitting needle.

Image of knitting needle with a loose loop of yarn being pulled tight to form a stitch.

You now have two stitches cast on.

Keep casting on stitches in the same manner until you have the number of stitches you need for your knitting pattern.

Pros

  • Quick cast on
  • Knits two rows at once
  • Easy to knit on
  • Easy to keep tension even

Cons

  • Difficult to get the right tail length
  • More complicated movement to make stitches
Image of a dark wood knitting needle with twenty stitches. Image is labeled long tail cast on.

Now Get Knitting!

I hope these three easy cast on techniques help you get started on your knitting journey. They were some of the first methods I learned, and I have used them for years.

The long tail cast on is my personal favorite of these three techniques, even when I lose at yarn chicken and have to start over again.

If you want to learn more about knitting, click here.

What is your favorite cast on? Let me know in the comments below!

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