Alternative to backwards loop cast-on?

#1

I just started the hat called Topi from the current issue of Knitty.

It’s a top-down hat, you start by casting on 5 stitches and increasing every other round, essentially.

She recommends using a backwards loop cast-on for the increases… which I HATE because I have such a hard time knitting into that increase stitch on the next row!

I tried doing a bar increase and that didn’t go so well. I guess since I’m increasing so often.

Anyway… can anyone recommend an alternative? Can I do knit in the front and back of the stitch for my increases? Or, if I use the backwards loop cast-on increase, can I knit into the back of the stitch in the next row?

TIA!!!

#2

I’d do knit into front and back. It’s not an invisible increase but I’ve found when used for a hat, similar to what you’re doing, it looks kind of neat because you can see where all the increases are.

#3

I’m not crazy about the backward loop cast on either, but I use it if I have to cast on a few stitches in the middle or end of a row. It is a bit of a pain to knit into. I’ve never heard it used for an increase, either.

You could try kfb and see how you like it. It won’t be perfectly smooth, since you get a little bar, but I don’t imagine the backward loop increase would be perfectly smooth either.