Figure-8 Cast On

When starting a project like a toe-up socks, it’s nice to have a cast on method in your knitting toolbox that creates a nice, seamless start to the project. In this video, Corrina Ferguson demonstrates how to work the Figure-8 Cast On.

Corrina begins by looking at a small swatch that looks like the toe of a sock. She’s worked the Figure-8 cast on in a different color than the rest of the swatch to see the cast on clearly. She notes that the stitches created during the cast on look like knit stitches, which allow the cast on to blend in with the rest of the stitches on the sock. This cast on can be used in any small circumference knitting set-up, such as magic loop or 2-circulars. Corrina is setting up the cast on using double-pointed needles.

A slip knot is made and placed onto one of the double-pointed needles. Corrina then holds two double-pointed needles in her left hand, the needle with the slip knot is on top of the free needle. She then works a figure-8 motion to add stitches onto both needles. Once the same number of stitches are on both needles, Corrina begins knitting the stitches on the top needle. She works into these stitches as regular knit stitches. After those stitches are complete, she flips the work so that the bottom needle is now the top needle. She knits these stitches through the back loop, so that they are not twisted. Because she is working on double-pointed needles, she also starts distributing the stitches on the double-pointed needles, to continuing working the toe of the sock.