Undoing slip knot..made first stitch second row incredibly loose

How-to Questions
1

I used the long tail cast on method, which requires an initial slip knot. I then proceeded to knit a row of mistake stitch, save for the initial slip knot.

I untied the slip knot because I hadn’t counted it as a stitch when I did my cast-on. However, now the first stitch of the second row is incredibly loose. Any idea what went wrong and how to fix it? Thank you!

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2

It is not possible to undo the slipknot if you made a slipknot for this cast on. However there are a few other solutions not requiring a slipknot:

  1. Just place the yarn above the needle and hold it there with the index finger and then begin long tail cast on
  2. Place the yarn on the needle and twist the needle a half turn or a complete turn, then begin the cast on
  3. Place the yarn above the needle and cast on one stitch too much. On the next row work them together

The slipknot is there to make the corner less round. Thus when working in the rounds, one is normally leaving out then slipknot and one is using method 1.

If one does not want to use a slipknot at all when working flat one can use method 2 or 3. Personally I prefer method 2 when it comes to the alternative methods.

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3

Sometimes you include the slip knot, and sometimes not. When you un-do it, there is some slack yarn… so just pull on it to tighten the second stitch. After a few rows, this should settle down.

However, as someone said, I don’t make a slip knot anymore. But that is for when you get more experience.

There might be a reason you want to keep it. I find it often makes for a square corner when I need it there. If you don’t make a slip knot, you get a rounder corner. If you are going to be picking up stitches along that edge, you may NEED that extra stitch. Does it matter? Well, you decide.

4

Ah you can pull on it to tighten the second stitch - very great info! Thank you both!!

5

I think you want to understand exactly why this happened and I’m not sure it’s been explained. When you do a long tail cast on with a measured off tail and a single long strand of yarn your first cast on the stitch isn’t done with the end of the yarn, it’s more like in the middle. When you undid the slip knot you you untied the middle of the cast on. Does that make sense? It’s possible to use two strands of yarn, one for the tail and one for the working yarn, joined with a slip knot. That knot can be undone because it involves the yarn ends. Doing a ltco this way is handy if you have to cast on 398 stitches or some other huge number and guesstimating how long the tail should be is iffy.
A knitted or cable cast on can have the beginning slip knot undone, again because the end of the yarn is involved.

6

I have never heard of the option of undoing the slip knot at the beginning of a long tail cast on row. Is there any advantage in doing this?

What I do have a problem with is, the slip knot tends to get pulled up the side of my work instead of sitting at the bottom corner.

Gillian