Two-Color Italian Cast On
Mary Beth TempleThe Two-Color Italian Cast On is a great way to start a project where two colors of yarn will be used. Projects that have techniques using multiple colors, like two-color Brioche or corrugated ribbing are perfect for using this cast on method. In this video, Mary Beth Temple explains how to work the Two-Color Italian Cast On.
To begin, Mary Beth makes a slip knot using both colors held together. She notes that this slip knot does not count as a stitch. It will be removed from the knitting needle after the first row of the pattern is worked. Once the slip knot is in place, she holds the yarn in the same orientation as a long tail cast on, with one yarn going over the forefinger and one over the thumb. They are pulled apart to make a V-shape. She then follows these steps to cast on:
- 1. From the top down, bring the right needle under both yarns.
- 2. Bring needle up and over the yarn on the thumb.
- 3. Bring needle down in between the “V” and under the yarn on the forefinger to bring stitch onto the needle.
- 4. Bring needle under the yarn on the thumb and up in between the “V.”
- 5. Bring needle around the yarn on the forefinger.
- 6. Bring needle under both strands of yarn to bring stitch onto the needle.
Steps 1 through 6 are repeated to continue adding stitches to the needle. These steps allow the colors to alternate on the knitting needle. Mary Beth uses a gray and a blue yarn and she notes that the colors are alternating on the knitting needle. The stitches are also orientated on the needle such that they appear as alternating knit and purl stitches, making this the perfect cast on for two-color ribbing projects, like two-color Brioche. Once the cast on is complete, the first row of the pattern can be worked, and the slip knot can be dropped off the needle.
Hi guys, Mary Beth Temple here on behalf of The Knitting Circle. And I want to talk to you today about the two-color Italian cast on. Now that sounds a little fiddly, but as you get more and more into knitting, you will find that there are specific cast ons and bind offs that work really well in certain projects. And I use the two-color Italian cast on when I am doing two-color brioche. And as you know, if you've been watching these videos, I love to do brioche.
So let's take a really in-depth look at the two-color Italian cast on All right. The first thing I'm going to do is make a slipknot with both yarns held together. Now, this does not count as a stitch. I'm going to put it on that knitting needle, but its job is to hold the yarns into place. That is not a stitch, and that does not count when you're counting your cast ons.
Now, I'm going to split my yarns apart the same way that I would do for a long tail cast on. So I'm going to take my index finger and my thumb and I'm going to put it between the two colors and I'm going to spread them apart. There's my V, right? And I'm going to pull that V down just a little bit so that there's just a little bit of tension on the arm. So we're going to alternate colors and we're going to alternate orientation.
So for the first stitch, I'm going from the top down, behind both colors of yarn. I'm going to put that needle over my front yarn, in this case, the gray, and put it down in the middle between the two colors and get that gray stitch up on the needle. For my second one, I'm going to go under the gray, come up in the middle, over the green and bring that needle all the way under both, which puts a green stitch up there. And so we're going to alternate going from the top and from the bottom. So top down, under both, go over that green, down through the middle and get that gray stitch on there.
And then for the second one, I'm going to go under just one, come up in the middle, over my back yarn, go under everything and get it up there. Now the words sound confusing, let's be honest, but this is really one of those things that once you get a rhythm going, it's really easy to do. And you can see instantly that you're doing it correctly because it's going the one color, then the next color, then the other color, then the next color, than the other. Do you see what I'm saying? Now, when I want to lock it off, I'm going to take not the color of the last stitch, but the other color.
I'm going to take that working yarn and I'm going to just do a cursive E cast on, which is just making this little loop, putting it on the end of the needle and giving it a quick tug. And that's going to lock everything down so that this guy doesn't come undone. I also want you to notice that in addition to changing color, every stitch we're changing orientation. So again, ignore these guys 'cause that's a slipknot, we're going to get rid of that when we knit the first row. But if you look very closely under the knitting needle, you can see that's a purl stitch, that's a knit stitch, that's a purl stitch, that's a knit stitch, et cetera.
And that's one of the reasons that this cast on is so useful for brioche knitting. So you can see it's not so hard to do, once you sort of get the hang of it and it will give a beautiful edging to your two-color brioche projects, as well as any other kind of two-color project that you might be working on. Maybe you want to do two-color ribbing or double knitting or something like that. So I hope you had a good time learning this, and I'm Mary Beth Temple and I'll see you around, here on The Knitting Circle.
Thank you for this great video. Is this the same technique as the Italian Tubular cast on? I’m working on my first double knit hat. The directions call to cast on 100 pairs. Does that mean 100 stitches of each color? Also, I am understanding I do not count the slip knot. Thank you for your time.
I wish you had actually started knitting onto your two color cast on so we could see how you handled the slip knot.