Two-Tail Long Tail Cast On
Michele Lee BernsteinThe Long Tail Cast On is a popular cast on method due to the fact that it’s quick, easy, and leaves a flexible edge. One downside to this cast on is that you need to estimate the length of the tail before starting the project. In this video, Michele Lee Bernstein demonstrates how to work a Two-Tail Long Tail Cast On. This method uses two balls of yarn to cast on, so there is no need to estimate the length of the tail.
To begin, Michele 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 works the long tail cast on with the two separate balls of yarn.
When working the Two-Tail Long Tail Cast On, it’s important to keep each strand in the same orientation for the entire cast on. Additionally, this cast on can be worked in one or two colors. Michele points out the working this cast on in two colors is nice for colorwork or Brioche knitting projects.
Once the cast on is complete, Michele cuts the yarn that was over her thumb, leaving a tail to weave in when the project is complete. She then works a row of garter stitch, removing the slip knot from the knitting needle when she comes to it.
I'm Michelle Bernstein with the knitting circle. I'd like to talk with you about the Long Tail Cast On the Long Tail Cast On is quick, easy and it makes a nice, flexible edge. But the hardest part is knowing how much yarn to start with so that you have a Tail that's the right length. I don't like running out a tail before I'm done casting on and I don't like having so much yarn left over that I feel like I'm wasting yarn. It's especially troublesome, If I'm casting on something to work bottom up like this shawl or a sweater with hundreds of stitches at the beginning.
I wanna to tell you about a different way to cast on with long tail cast on and that's a two tail long tail cast on. you can't run out of yarn unless you are running out of yarn for your project. So that is not going to happen. Let me show you how, to begin a two-tailed long tail cast on I need two balls of yarn, they can be the same color or if you want a contrasting edge you can use two different colors that works really great in brioche, to begin the two tail long tail cast on I start with a slip-dot, and this is not a stitch. It's just a way of holding my two yarns together so I can get started, here I am ready to go.
And I have my thumb under the Tail and my forefinger under the other piece of yarn T for thumb T for tail. That's what I would use to remember but I'm doing with my long tail cast on. So after putting that slip-knot on I'm just doing a regular long tail cast on. So I tip up, I go in, around and through. I like to use my finger to make sure that my stitches don't get too close together.
That way I have a cast on edge that is not tight. I don't know if you've ever noticed but when you're doing a long tail cast On what you're really doing is knitting off your thumb. So I'm going in to this stitch on my thumb just like it was a knitting needle around the yarn goes and it pulls through and back out through that stitch. And that's all there is to it you're not going to run out of tail unless you run out of your entire ball of yarn, which is not going to happen. When I finished casting on the number of stitches I want if I'm not going to need that other Tail if I'm working with one color or I'm not working in brioche then I can just cut this tail yarn and be done with it.
This does mean that I have extra tails to sewing, at the end of my knitting, but I think it's worth it. If I'm casting on hundreds of stitches to not run out of tail and I'm casting on. So after we've cast on, we can go ahead and work our stitches, however we're supposed to. And I'm just going to knit these and show you what the X looks like when I'm done As they come up to that very first stitch that I had put on, I can see that it's two colors and that's the slipknot. And that is not a stitch, as I said.
So we just pull that out and it's gone, here we are on the right side of our cast on and you can see that I have what hold it back is very nice contrast color edge, or it will be the same color if you're using two balls of the same color yarn and here are my stitches and I have extra tails to sow in and it's all good. So that's the two tail long tail cast on. I hope it saves you a lot of time and a lot of emotional investment. I'm Michelle Bernstein with "The Knitting Circle".
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