1.Which of these is the stretchiest(without rib because they are all stretchy with rib) regular Long tail Cast on, Garter Stitch tab Cast on, Purl Cast on, Austrian Long tail Cast on, Two color long tail Cast on, Alternating Cable Cast on, I cord Cast on, Crochet Provisional Cast on, Invisible Cast on, Super Stretchy Slipknot Cast on, Estonian cast on, Two color Italian Cast on, Picot cast on, Italian provisional Cast on, Itailian Cast on, Guernsey Cast on, Crochet Cast on, Backwards loop(also known as e wrap) Cast on, 1x1 rib Cast on, long tail thumb Cast on, twisted german Cast on, cable Cast on,
Do you need the instructions for each of those cast ons?
NOt to be rude but is this a serious question? If those are real cast ons (in the U.S.) I doubt anyone has heard of 98% of them. If you want stretchy I would assume that “Super Stretchy Slipknot Cast on” is the stretchiest.
Cast on 10 stitches in each cast-on you’d like to try. Knit two or three rows. Cast off (bind off) with different bind-offs. Make labels to keep a record of each experiment.
When I need a stretchy cast on, I use the German twisted cast on.
You want a cast on that puts extra yarn into the starting edge to give you the extra stretch.
I’d never seen Tillybuddy’s cast on. That looks like a good one to try. Thanks Daylily!
I like DCM’s suggestion of trying out the cast ons since this will ultimatey be a personal preference.
I use it for mittens, gloves, and hats. It is really stretchy and comes back with no stretching out. Once you have it down keep the needle tips close together when knitting the first row. One advantage for using it is this, you cast on two stitches at a time so the time spent casting on large numbers of stitches will be cut in half.
I can’t give an opinion on which of the cast ons is stretchiest, but to answer your 2nd question, no you don’t need instructions for each of them. If you want to learn them all, that’s ok, if you don’t that’s also ok. The good thing about learning cast ons is that most of them fall into the 2 main groupings of being variations on either the Long Tail or the Knit On cast ons.
The Alternate Cable Cast On and Cable Cast On are both close variations of the Knit Cast on. The Alternate Cable CO is classically used with Rib.
The Long Tail CO and Long Tail Thumb CO are the same CO, it’s just the method of execution that’s different. For the ‘Thumb’ method there’s more movement of the yarn and less of the needle, but for the ‘slingshot’ method the opposite is true.
The Austrian Long tail Cast on, Two color long tail Cast on, Two color Italian Cast on, Italian provisional Cast on, Italian Cast on, 1x1 rib Cast on and twisted german Cast on, all start with the ‘slingshot’ hold from the Long Tail CO. (Although I have also seen a video of either the Italian or Italian provisional done using the ‘Thumb’ method.)
The Purl Cast on will be the purl variation of either the Knit CO or the Long Tail CO. There are a number of ways of doing the Invisible (or Tubular) Cast on, most of which are essentially the Italian or Provisional COs. The Backwards loop (in my opinion) should never be used for more that approx 5 stitiches.
Yes, they’re all real cast ons. In fact, of troy - our resident Cast On Queen will tell you that list is only scratching the surface, as she is now up to 50 or 60 COs.
Somebody else suggested 20 row swatches and why 1 swatch for 1 cast on when 3 separate swatches each with the same cast on will really give you the elasticity measurments?:think:
Yes, 20 rows, or approximately 2 inches, will be better for doing a test swatch.
Why 1 swatch for 1 cast on? Becasue DogCatMom made the not unresonable presumption that the swatches would be worked in one stitch eg gater, stocking etc. It you intend to do multiple swatches in the same CO, stitch and yarn I think that will be a waste of time. If you intend to do multiple swatches in the same CO and stitch but change the yarn, or do multiple swatches keeping the CO and yarn the same, but change the stitches then that will give a fair comparision. When doing different COs you will need to keep the stitch pattern and yarn the same so the results are not skewed by too many variables.
Why the interest in those COs and why 3 swatches for each CO?
I am interested in these cast ons because I have always used the long tail and I wonder if any of these would be better for something with rib or no rib but positive ease or no rib but negative ease. Also it will give me more variety so that I don’t always have to do the long tail. As far as 3 swatches for each cast on you see If I combine 3 stitches into a 20 row swatch like dog cat mom suggested I won’t really know the relative elasticity. If I do 3 separate swatches. One is st st, one in 1x1, and one in garter I will know how elastic it is for each of those stitches. If combined into 1 swatch the rib at the bottom might give a good measurement of elasticity but the st st and garter will have the same elasticity as they would if I was measuring the elasticity in the middle of a swatch instead of the cast on edge. You see now why my suggestion is 3 separate swatches for each cast on. The 3 swatches will always be in st st, 1x1, and garter so that won’t be a problem.
I’m never opposed to gathering knowledge for knowledge’s sake, but… Every yarn is different, and every time you knit a yarn there will be subtle variations in your tension which can affect the ease. The relative elasticities will only count for that yarn, at that gauge, and for that stitch pattern, not necessarily across all yarns and gauges.
That said and in the interest of you having maximum effective time knitting, my recommendation is to get a ball of the yarn you want to work your project with, work a swatch with your cast on of choice in the stitch pattern you’ll use in the project. If you like the results, use that cast on. If you don’t like the results, try a different cast on.
The three swatch principle works in theory but the practice will eat into effective knitting time. Unless this is a class project in fiber arts to determine relative elasticities, you can gain knowledge of other cast ons by trying them out in other projects.
For stretchy cast ons, I like knitted on or purled on cast ons, for what it’s worth. Your mileage may vary…