Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Long-Tail Cast-On Trick

This may seem self-evident, but I didn't figure it out on my own after a few years of a lot of inaccurate casting on...

If you're not great at eying how much yarn you should use for a long-tail cast-on, then, starting an inch or three from the end, wrap the yarn around your needle the requisite number of times. Tie your slip knot after the end of the last wrap, then unwrap it all and cast on. I'm paranoid and give it a few extra inches (because, really, who couldn't use a few extra inches now and then?) but this has been idiot-proof, or at least Kate-proof, since I heard someone else suggest it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

BRILLIANT!

I usually have a tail so long that I end up knitting with it instead of the "real" yarn. Makes me giggle every time my yarn suddenly disappears - I will be happy to skip this step on my projects.

Sara said...

Great idea! I think you are perhaps worlds ahead of me when it comes to following patterns. I want to get better at following them, but every time I start a project I seem to go off on my own instead of paying attention to what I'm supposed to be doing. Ack! Maybe checking in here will help to keep me honest?