I am going to be knitting the Hemlock Ring blanket in a KAL next week. The pattern begins with the Emily Ocker CO. I found instructions online for this CO, but I hate to learn yet ANOTHER CO method! What is the advantage of this CO? Have any of you used this method? Is it worth learning?
Emily Ocker CO
It’s used to co a small number of sts for the start of a circular knit piece and to prevent any hole in the middle. What I do is generally CO with Long tail or maybe knit, put the sts on 2 dpns ,then use a 3rd to knit with until there’s more rows and sts to work with and add the other needles and rearrange the sts. Or I use one circ with the cord pulled out halfway and the stitches just on the ends and use another circ to knit them with. If you have a hole, it’s small and the tail can be used to close it up.
Other good COs for circular knitting are the Turkish/eastern CO, figure 8 and the Magic CO.
I found this method also (http://techknitting.blogspot.com/2007/02/casting-on-from-middle-disappearing.html). Supposedly it has the advantage over the Emily Ocker method in that it does not require a slipknot and the first stitches aren’t crocheted. I understand, sometimes learning new techniques makes knitting seem like an endless journey, but when you learn new methods you have more control of your knitting by giving you more choices to make on what might suit better for different projects or feel more comfortable for you to execute.
Katrina
the emily ocker cast on is a noose cast on.
(and its a bit of a PITA)
TechKnitter (find her blog, or look her up on ravelry) has an alternate noose cast on (a bit easier than the emily ocker)
both of these cast ons start a loose, large rings. but pull the tail of the cast on, and they tighten up into small eyelets–they are very attractive–and its worth learning one or both .
the third option:
cast on 4, work in i-cord for an inch or two.
run a lifeline, then increase (to suggested Cast on number)
continue from there.
when finishing, cut the tail end of the i-cord, un ravel, and use the tail (and lifeline to make a drawstring closure