Provisional Cast On

April 6, 2021| LindyBeir| 0 Comment | 9:31 am

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A Provisional Cast On is a method for making a temporary cast on that can be removed later. The method I use requires a crochet hook and either waste yarn or an extra cable from a circular needle. If you are using waste yarn, you should use a slippery yarn in a contrasting color so that the cast on stitches can be easily removed.

Where this cast on is used:

Knitting hems or edges where you want to add a border or knit in the opposite direction
Knitting scarves when you want the ends to be identical

To make the Provisional Cast On use a crochet hook the same size equivalent as your knitting needle. Start by making a slip knot with waste yarn and placing it on the crochet hook.(This does not count as a stitch.) Hold your knitting needle in your left hand and the crochet hook in your right hand. Make a stitch over the needle or cable by holding the yarn strand under the needle and taking the crochet hook over the needle, grabbing the strand and pulling it through the loop on the crochet hook. Repeat this process until you have the desired number of stitches.

If you are a crocheter, you can do a Provisional Cast On by making a crochet chain and then knitting into the bumps on the back of the chain. Tips: 1) Make the chain longer than the desired number of stitches; 2) Use a crochet hook one or two sizes larger than the knitting needle you will be using to make it easier to go into the bumps.

Links for Provisional Cast Ons:

Provisional Cast On – One Step Method

Crochet Chain Provisional Cast On

Mirrored Cables – Front Cross & Back Cross CablesMirrored Cables – Front Cross & Back Cross Cables

Front Cross and Back Cross Cable Stitches are mirror images of each other. The Front Cross cable twists to the left, while the Back Cross twists to the right. Both cables are done over four stitches.

In the sample – I have knitted a swatch with 3 Front Cross Cables and 3 Back Cross Cables to demonstrate how they mirror each other and also to show how these two cables would look in a ribbing. Remember that cables are usually separated by a few purl stitches in most textured pattern designs. In this swatch, I separated the cables by 2 purl stitches on each side. (I also blocked this swatch and stretched it to separate the cables. If you were using these cables as a ribbing, you would not want to block your garment this way.)

The Front Cross Cable is often written in patterns as “C4F”. To knit this cable, you slip the first two stitches onto a cable needle and hold them in the front of your knitting while you knit the next two stitches. Then you knit the two stitches off the cable needle. This results in the cable twisting to the left.

Tension can be an issue here, as many knitters tend to stretch the last stitch of the four a bit too much and end up with a looser stitch on the left edge of the needle. If you look closely at the left edge of the cable in the picture above, you will see that I do have looser stitches on the left edge.

Montse Stanley, in the “Knitters Handbook”, suggests knitting through the back of this stitch, rather than then front will tighten it up. You must remember to purl through the back loop again on the next row or you will have a twisted stitch if you do this, however.

The Back Cross Cable is often written in patterns as “C4B”. To knit this cable, you slip the first two stitches onto a cable needle and hold them in the back of your knitting while you knit the next two stitches. Then you knit the two stitches of the cable needle. This results in the cable twisting to the right. The same tension issues occur with this cable as with the Front Cross Cable.

In my swatch, I have varied the number of rows between cable stitch repeats to demonstrate how the appearance of the cables changes with the number of rows. The first two cables are based upon a four row repeat (meaning that the cable was done on the fourth row) and the last two cables are based upon a six row repeat.

These two cable patterns are very versatile – uses include: all-over cable patterning in a sweater (the popular “baby cable” sweaters found in stores today), a border for another textured pattern in an Aran style sweater, a decorative ribbing for a pullover sweater, the patterning found in my Cable Rib socks. I’m certain you can find many more examples as you look through sweater and sock patterns.

Progress on Socks for SoldiersProgress on Socks for Soldiers

I am making progress on my first pair of “regulation socks” for Socks for Soldiers. It has been slow going. I had knitted about four inches in 2 x 2 ribbing when I decided that I had an issue with laddering. Usually when you knit on two circulars, you don’t have a problem with ladders developing between the needles – but there they were… I figured out that I was causing the problem by tugging too hard on the yarn when I knit the first two stitches on each needle. The Regia Stretch yarn is really stretchy and because I was pulling the yarn too tightly I had ladders. So, I made a trip to the frog pond and frogged the socks all the way back to the beginning. (Sigh…)

9 inches of sock leg.

Well, I now have 9+ inches of leg done on both socks. The first 8 inches were knit on size US 2 (3.00 mm) circulars, with a stitch gauge of 8 spi. Following the directions of the official pattern, I switched to Size US 1 (2.25 mm) circulars, which have a gauge of 9 spi. The leg continues in ribbing until it measures 12 inches and then you begin the heel. I’ll post an update when I get to the heel.

Chevron Scarf – in ProgressChevron Scarf – in Progress

So, I spent quite a bit of time asking various folks what they thought about the chevron scarf and which patterning they liked. All of them were very supportive and all gave me their opinions — but many couched their remarks in such a way that I would not feel the need to frog what I had already knitted. (I appreciate their kind concern, but I really don’t mind frogging something if it isn’t knitting up the way I want it.)

Those who thought the 2 row change in color was best were about equal to the ones who preferred the 4 row change in color. Likewise, many suggested that I leave the initial rows of 2 row color changes as is and just continue knitting the 4 row color changes until the scarf was nearly done — then switch back to the 2 row color changes. I seriously consider doing this — but, in the end, I decided I preferred the 4 row color changes over the 2 row color changes (too busy, I found them really distracting). So I took a plunge into the frog pound, and started over.

ChevronScarf2b Now this pattern knits up rather quickly and it didn’t take me very long to get back to the original length I had knitted. This is a wonderful knitting project — it is an easy to remember 4 row pattern and I really like knitting the Cascade Heritage yarn. I am certain I will finish this Christmas present well ahead of schedule.