Brilliant! The slow motion was so helpful. I have watched so many of these videos and yours was the only one that demonstrated it so clearly and absolutely the best. I learnt the 2 needle method years ago from my mother. But this method really is so much faster. Thank you!
This is how I learned to cast on as a child! As an adult, I've never met anyone who does the long tail cast on this way, and I always wondered about it (and could never get the hang of doing it the other way). I loved watching your video!
I learned this as a child and my fingers found it again after many decades. I find it to be simple & easy. I sometimes get the tail length wrong & have to adjust. Staci from Very Pink uses this cast on.
This is the way that I was taught by my mum to cast on except that I start with a slip knot. Although you are calling it English I think all of the UK in general uses this method. (I’m Scottish). The obvious drawback to this is making sure that your “tail” needs to be sufficiently long enough for the number of stitches you need and I’ve been caught out a few times with this!! 😂😂😂 I’ve just recently found the 2 strand long tail method so next time I have a bigger project I’ll be doing it that way Thank you for sharing your skills. 🤓🏴
Hi, I’m Scottish too, and also learned this way, but have never seen it mentioned on any RU-vid! I now use the cable cast on, you don’t need to guesstimate how much yarn you need to cast on. Nice to ‘see’ another Scot, and someone else who knows the old thumb method 👋
Roxanne, I found an Interweave pattern that uses this thumb method to do increases on a sleeve. I recently watched your video on various ways to do increases on for example, a sleeve. So I did a practice sleeve using the thumb increase method. I was practicing in the round so I had my marker at the join. I worked in the round and every 6th row I did a thumb increase stitch after the 1st stitch and again.just before the last stitch. After several 6 rounds I was really impressed with the look! Minimal holes and very neat increases. I think this will be my "go to" for sleeve increase rows in the future. How timely...
Thank you for this suggestion. I have done so many sweaters with just the plain loop method and also have used the knit on method but will now try this method on my next sweater.
Hello there, that was a lovely surprise. My Mum used to cast on stitches this way and tried very hard to teach me, I can do it now but my goodness did she have trouble. I didn't know that it was the called the English way of casting on but since her Mother was English and she taught her, I should have guessed. Thank you for sharing.
Both methods involve knitting the twisted thumb loop. You're essentially knitting that loop Continental style or English style, depending on which hand is managing the working yarn.
I swear "slingshot" seems to be the assumed default, so it's really nice to see a demonstration of something similar to the way I do it. The default way I do it is purlwise, actually. Entirely because I'm self taught and misinterpreted the diagrams in the pamphlet I was learning from. But it's still my preferred way because I find it easier to keep a good tension on the bottom loops, plus it looks nice when you're working flat
I also learned this way but I slide the yarn trough the front with a clockwise motion. This is less awkward l. I also start right off with that rather than doing the slip stitch first.
Great video. Thank you for the information and link to your previous video. I normally guess for the length of the yarn needed to cast on. 😊 Now I have better information.
My Mom taught me to cast on using the thumb method when I was a kid (I'm 70 now). I use a slip knot to start the first stitch and knit the stitches on tensioning the yarn with my right hand. Can't seem to get the hang of the other method of casting on.
Do you have a video covering the long tail cast on in the middle of a row? Or maybe a better question would be what cast on method would you recommend for the middle of a row? (I'm knitting fingerless gloves with a hole for the thumb.)
It's more typical to use a CO that requires only one strand of yarn (so you don't have to weave in two extra tails). The backwards loop CO produces the same edge as a LTCO, so that's what I usually do. I CO fewer sts than called for, and then make up for the count on the row following the CO by working a make 1 inc into the CO edge. This video demonstrates that process: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aMKfwZe1CR8.html
Can this method be purled? Thanks for this video-this is the one I was taught as a child, so it’s quite easy for me. I tried to figure out a way to purl it for 2-2 ribbing but it broke my tired brain-twice. Should not have attempted something like that after a long workday!
Yes, you move the yarn to the front as you would to purl and purl through the thumb loop instead of knitting through it. The playlist that is in the video description has a video on how to cast on in pattern using that method.
I don't know why anyone bothers with long tail cast on. I've tried every method suggested for estimating the length you will need to start with and none of them are reliable. It's needlessly fiddly and aren't any better than other, more sensible cast ons.
There are absolutely some that are completely reliable, because they don't require any estimation at all, e.g. using two separate strands to CO with, or spit felting the two ends of a ball, casting on, then cutting the thumb yarn once casting on is complete. That doesn't mean you have to use them, if you prefer other CO methods, but again, there *are* methods that are completely reliable.
