Knit One, Purl One (K1, P1) Cast On

Hi, this is Jill Wright from The Knitting Circle. In this video, we're going to look at the knit one purl one cast on. I'll demonstrate it for you. And we'll talk a little bit about how useful it is. Let's get to it.

So the knit one purl one cast on. Let me show you what it looks like right here. Cast on edge, knit one purl one, and it looks good from one side. It looks good from the other side, it's identical. We look at the very edge here.

We've got to kinda crisscross zigzag. It has a good stretch. The fabric itself when it's a one by one rib, it's nice and parallel. Now it's this cast on, the knit one purl one, is based on the cable cast on, and this is what the cable cast on looks like. Little rope-like edge.

This is all knit stitches. This is knit one purl one. Take a look at them this way. You can see the difference. All right, let's show you now how to work the knit one purl one cast on.

Let's take some yarn and make a slip knot. Insert that left needle into that slip knot loop. Not too far. And here we go. We're gonna take this very first loop right here and assume that it's a knit stitch.

So our next stitch needs to be purl which means that we need our needle behind the yarn or the yarn in front of the needle. Insert that needle in the first loop as if to purl, wrap the yarn around, bring that loop through and don't slip it out the needle just yet. We need the needle tips together and we're gonna bring that left needle forward in front of that loop and slip it onto the left side. Now comes the knit stitch. So we want the yarn in back.

We need to insert that needle this time between those two stitches. Now that we have the two there, we're gonna go for the gap. We're gonna knit the stitch, pop the loop through, needle tips together, left needle comes forward and scoops up that right hand loop. Little snug down. Let's go for another purl.

Insert that needle between those two stitches from behind. We're gonna wrap around, pop that loop through, needle tips together, left needle comes forward and scoops up that loop. We got four, so we got a knit purl, we got a knit purl, next comes a knit. Insert that needle between those two stitches from the front. Wrap that yarn, pop the loop through, needle tips together, left needle comes forward, scoops it up.

Let's do just a couple more. We got about five stitches. Purl, so it goes from behind with the yarn in front, between those two stitches, wrap, bring the loop through, tips together, left needle comes and scoops the front of that right stitch. And two, four, six. Let's do one more to finish it up.

I know it's an odd number. But odd number is seen best in one by one rib. I'm gonna knit there. Pull that loop through, needle tips together, scoop with that left needle, and we got seven. So let's take a look at this.

We started with a knit stitch on a purl stitch in a knit stitch. Do you see how this little knit stitch is almost formed right here? And then the next one is a purl, it has a little bar across. And then the next one is a knit stitch in a purl in a knit. So let's work it that way.

Here we go. Let's knit this first one. Yarn forward, purl, and read what the stitches are gonna do. You got that almost a little knit stitch right there. Knit...and purl...and a knit and a purl...and a knit.

All right, let's check it out. We followed the stitches that we'd seen. Knit, purl, knit, purl, knit, purl, knit. We got that nice little crisscross coming as a start. And if we flip it over, we can also see what to expect in the next row.

All right, the knit one purl one cast on, it's pretty straightforward. It is great for any rib count. You can do it two by two, three by three, three by one, whatever rib that you need. Just don't forget to read the stitches as they come. Hope you've enjoyed that.

I hope you enjoyed learning the knit one purl one cast on, and don't forget to check out the rest of the website for some more knitting videos.