Casting on unwinds yarn

#1

Hi! I’m doing a simple cast on. It’s the super basic one where you make a slip knot and then simply make a loop, place it on the needle and then pull the working yarn to tighten.

My problem is that every time I cast on like this (I’m a beginner so it’s the only way I can cast on at the moment), it starts to untwist the yarn so that instead of having a stitch on the needle that looks like 1 strand of 3/4 ply yarn, you can see all 3/4 plies (no idea if that’s the correct way to say this) separately. It starts to untwists like this after roughly every 3 stitches that I cast on and if I don’t pick up the ball of yarn and turn it around to wind the 3/4 plies of the yarn back up, it continues to stay untwisted and looks awful. It also makes it harder to knit once I have finished casting on because I have to make sure I catch all 3/4 plies of each stitch since they are now separated.

I know that I can just pick up the ball of yarn and turn it around every few stitches to wind the 3/4 plies of the yarn back up but that takes FOREVER. I also can’t do this if I am knitting with yarn double and am using yarn from the inside of the ball and the outside of the same ball to get my 2 strands of yarn because it twists them up.

Is there any reason this might be happening and is there anything I can do to stop it other than twisting the ball cause this doesn’t work for yarn double?

#2

You could try making the loop the other way. I’d also suggest just doing a different cast on, like the knit or cable. This loop cast on is difficult to work into on the first row, isn’t very stable for the beginning of a project and you can end up with loose messy stitches, with loops between the stitches.

#3

Thanks. :slight_smile: Yeah, I think I’ll try learning another cast on again. I’ve tried before but couldn’t figure it out. It seems that sometimes I just need to leave a new knitting skill alone and come back and try again later so hopefully it will click this time.

#4

What finally broke the “I can’t ever remember how to cast on” ice for me earlier this year was seeing someone use the Backwards Loop Cast-On. I was stunned that loops could just appear out of the air like that. But she was in a hurry and “couldn’t” show me, so I had to look in books and stuff b/c she didn’t give me its name, either.

Make sure when you make the loops that they are backwards to your hand. If this sentence doesn’t make sense, check in a book or maybe online (I’ve never looked it up online). I just let the yarn flow through my fingers, and I haven’t had it untwist on me. I haven’t cast on a super-large number of projects, either, but thought I’d give you this little bit of feedback that I have.

DCM

#5

Thanks DCM!! That’s a great tip. I’ll have to try it out.

Well I sat down and tried again and somehow the long tail cast on just clicked. :slight_smile: I was amazed at how easy I found it. It worked really well and didn’t untwist the yarn. Now I’ve just got to try and stay awake so I can keep knitting. lol

#6

Backward loop is not a good cast on for a large number of stitches IMO. If you find the long tail too complicated right now I suggest learning the knitted cast on. It’s very similar to actual knitting.

#7

Fear not, Jan in CA; I’ve only completed 3 cat toys, 1 practice swatch, and 1 6" wide scarf thus far. I’ve ripped out several starts, though…

DCM

#8

Also, which end are your working your yarn from? The outer free end or the center pull end? Try working from the opposite end you are currently using and this may solve your problem, as you will now be twisting the yarn the opposite direction and the plies should not unwind.

#9

Jan - I managed to figure out the long tail cast on! I’ve tried it before with no success but thought I may as well give it a go again after posting this thread and it just clicked.

Thats a good idea RochesterKnitter! I never thought of that. I’ve always used the outer free end but this is the first project that I’ve knitted that needed me to use double yarn so I need to use both ends from the same ball. It’s all good though, I figured out how to do the long tail cast on and it’s worked wonderfully. :slight_smile: I’m really happy with the way it looks so I think I will cast on that way from now on.

Thank you everyone for your advice!!