Casting on

General Knitting
1

I have trouble using the thumb method, I always cast on using needles and knitting behind the stitch. If I do this should I use a larger needle just to cast on and if so how much bigger than the recommend needle size, as I would like the stretch. Thanks

2

What do you mean by thumb method? I’ve seen this description for a backward loop cast on and for a long tail cast on. I think you might mean a knitted cast on or cable cast on for your usual method. Is your cast on typically really tight or about right for continuing knitting? If you tend to cast on really tightly a larger needle could help fix that but IME a larger needle for casting on makes for a sloppy edge.

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I used to use a larger needle for certain cast ons. A knit cast on is not very stretchy and going up 1mm or 2mm worked for me, but as GG said you don’t want a sloppy edge, it’s best to try it on swatch first, or rather several swatches.

Swatch 1, cast on 15 or 20 sts with the pattern size needle, work 10 rows in rib (or whatever stitch the pattern calls for) then pace it on scrap yarn as a holder.

Swatch 2, cast on with 1mm larger, change to the pattern needle, work the rows, put on hold.

Swatch 3, cast on with 2mm larger, change to pattern needle, work the rows, put on hold.

Then stretch all 3 swatches about, have a good fiddle wih them, feel the fabric and stretch out the cast on edge, see how it looks after a bit of stretching, does it look neat, sloppy, is it to tight, too loose, just right?

Even better is if you wash and dry the swatches, then give them a good fiddle and stretch over a number of days. Many of us don’t have the patience for exploratory swatching but it does lead to a better understanding of our own knitting gauge and what we need to adapt for our own outcomes.

A cable cast on, also done with needles, is more stretchy, it might appear firm initially but after working some rows you can give it a good stretch out and it will then go to its full width.

Do you know the name of your preferred cast on method, knit cast on? Cable cast on? Something else?

It’s worth mentioning that there are very many cast on methods, some i need to work with a smaller needle, not bigger, you will only know from trying it out.