How to Cast On Knitting: Long Tail Method for Beginners

Casting on is the very first move in any knitting project - it puts the foundation row of stitches onto your needle. The long tail cast on (also called the slingshot or thumb method) is the workhorse technique that most knitters learn first. Once you have it down, every project starts the same way.

This walkthrough from Davina at Sheep & Stitch breaks the long tail cast on into seven manageable steps. Use chunky yarn and 10mm needles while you're learning - thick yarn is much easier to see and grip than fingering weight.

Both strands work at once. The tail around your thumb forms each loop, the working yarn over your index finger forms the stitch that stays on the needle. Holding both feels strange in your hands for ten stitches and automatic by the fiftieth.

What you need

• Bulky or chunky yarn - big stitches let you see what your hands are doing
• 10mm bamboo or wooden needles, with enough drag to hold a new stitch. Slick metal plus new hands sends stitches to the floor
• A tape measure, until you can eyeball a tail
• Removable stitch markers for counting

How much tail to leave

Run out of tail at stitch 54 of 60 and the long tail cast on has no rescue - you pull it out and start over. Three ways to measure:

• Three times the width. Three times the finished width of the piece. A 5-inch dishcloth wants about 15 inches.
• An inch per stitch. Worsted on 5mm needles eats about an inch per stitch, bulky on 10mm about an inch and a half. Add six inches for weaving in.
• The ten-wrap trick. Wrap the yarn around the needle ten times and measure. That length casts on ten stitches in this yarn on this needle, so multiply up.

When two answers disagree, believe the longer one.

Other cast ons and when to reach for them

Knitted cast on

One strand, no tail math. You knit into the stitch on the left needle and slide the new loop back onto it. Learn this one if the slingshot grip refuses to click, and use it whenever a pattern adds stitches partway through a row. Looser edge.

Cable cast on

Same motion, but the needle goes between the last two stitches instead of into one. Firm, ropey edge that holds its shape - good for a ribbed cuff or a buttonhole.

Backward loop cast on

Twisted loops thrown on with your thumb. Seconds to do, no measuring, but floppy to knit into. Use it for adding two or three stitches at the end of a row.

Counting your cast on stitches

Count the loops on the needle, not the bumps along the bottom edge, and the slipknot is stitch one. Work in tens and drop a removable marker on after every tenth stitch, so a recount means checking markers, not 60 loops. Recount before row one.

When it goes wrong

Too tight. The most common complaint - the stitches will not slide and row one is a wrestling match. The cause is the last move of each stitch: snug the loop against the needle instead of yanking the tail. Cast on over two needles held together and slip one out at the end, or go up two needle sizes for the cast on row only. Go too far the other way and you get gappy loops, so back off to one needle and let the tail set the tension.

Twisted stitches. Every loop should sit the same way, leading leg at the front. One reversed stitch shows as a bump along the edge, and a twist anywhere in that row locks in a permanent spiral once you knit in the round.

Row one fights you. Normal - a fresh cast on row has no fabric under it to hold tension. It settles after a few rows.

What comes after casting on

Cast on, work knit and purl, then bind off so the stitches leave the needle without unravelling. Never held needles? Start with knitting for absolute beginners.