How much yarn to cast on?

How-to Questions
1

This has probably been covered before, I looked a little bit but couldn’t find any thing about it so:

Does anyone know any tricks about how much yarn to pull out to cast on?
Like, if I had to cast on 22 stitches, how many inches of yarn would that take etc. etc.?

THANK YOU for any info,
sue

2

If you are doing a long-tail cast on.

  • Take your yarn wrap it around the needle ten times (= ten sts)
  • At end of last wrap pinch yarn closest to skien with you finger and unravel
  • take the length you just wrapped around needle and make equal lengths to your required amount of stitches to cast on.
3

Depends on the weight of yarn, sz of ndls. I just wrap yarn around ndl I’m using for no of sts (allowing for tail of desired length). If I have lots of sts to co I’ll just do 1/2 or 1/4 of total needed and then add length for the add’l. For instance, if 50 sts (50 wraps/winds) = 2 ft of yarn and I need 100 sts I’ll allow for 4 ft (2x2)…plus my tail.

cam

4

A little trick I do is to wrap the yarn a bit loosely around the needle about 10 times, then measure out from there (ie. if 30 stitches, then 3 times my original measurement). Then I add about 9 inches or so for a little extra just in case I’m short a few and to have the end to weave in. Hope this helps.

5

For 22 sts… probably about a yard…

6

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=seagreen]I read somewhere that it’s roughly 3 times the width of what you’re knitting, plus enough for a tail to weave in later. :lol:[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

7

Right, about 3 times the number of inches the piece is going to be. So for some 10" wide, about 30" plus 6" tail = 36".

8

Wow! Thanks everybody for all the casting on tips!

I usually have a real long tail hanging down because I pulled out too much. I hate when I didn’t pull out enough though, I have to start all over. But now I’ll know!:happydance:

Thank You All!
luv,
sue

9

I always struggle with this! Thanks guys!:yay:

10

Dumb newbie question here: Why does this matter?

11

If you are doing the long tail cast on and don’t start with enough yarn tail, you will not have enough to make all the cast on stitches, since they are formed by the tail yarn, not from the skein or ball of yarn.

If you DO run short, you can always add a few with a knitted cast on.

12

Hi Tracey,

It doesn’t matter if you are not using the “long tail” cast-on. I figured this out by watching the “cast-on” videos here!

Have tons of fun!
Carol

13

Oh, I see. This is more relevant to patterns that have pieces that are going to be stitched together (like sweaters), and not so much for pieces that aren’t (like scarves).

TYVM!:muah:

14

Well even with a scarf, do you really want 2 feet of tail getting in the way while you knit the first row…?

15

Basically it’s so you’re not wasting a lot of yarn for a long-tail cast-on. You can measure off what you need, have a bit to weave in later, and have the rest for your project. If you happen to be using a type of knitted cast-on, then this method doesn’t apply. Different projects may use various cast on methods (some may need a firmer or a looser edge), so it helps to know some tricks for each.

16

re Dumb newbie question here: Why does this matter?

No question is ever dumb; if you don’t know, you don’t know. There ARE some dumb answers however.

It matters because even experienced knitters like me string out a length to do long tail cast on and run out of yarn ten stitches before the needed number. Then we swear a lot.