Knitting Instructions: Cast On

Video Transcript

"So now we're going to cast on. And I'm going to teach you the long tail cast on method. First off, I'm going to start by making the slip knot that we just reviewed. Bringing my yarn through, there's my slip knot. Put my slip knot on my right hand needle, and there's my first stitch. Now for this stitch, I'm going to ask you to put your hand on the yarn, like a fist. And this is just for mental, physical memory, it's not actually part of doing the cast on. Separate the yarn like it's curtains, and bring the yarn to the end of your fingers. You're going to bring the yarn down through the center, so you're going to see and upside down A, some people like to think of it like a tee-pee, or a sling shot. You're going to bring your needle from the outside of your thumb, under the loop, around the forefinger, and right back down through the thumb loop, release your fingers, and just make it snug. You never want to make this too tight, because that's the stitch you have to get into when you knit your first row. So again, if you forget what you're doing, you put your hand in a fist on the yarn, so you've got that memory, part it like it's curtains, bring it down, there's your upside down A, from the thumb around the forefinger, and right down in the thumb. If you're fighting with this stitch, then you're doing it wrong. You don't want to go over here, you don't want to go over here, just straight down. And that's your long tail cast on."