The cast on thumb method
for beginning knitters.
Hi, I'm Kristen and welcome back
to my channel, Studio Knit.
This cast on thumb method helps you easily begin
your knitting stitches.
It's a variation on the basic long-tail technique
without the need to learn the traditional slingshot hold.
And just five basic steps see exactly
how to begin casting on any knitting project
with this thumb version giving you attractive edges
with a little bit of stretch.
And if you enjoy my knitting techniques
please like up this video.
Let me know you would like to see more cast on help
and it really helps me out to.
To begin, you are going to prepare
to cast on by deciding how long of a yarn tail
you will need for your knitting project.
Create a slip knot and place it onto your knitting needle.
Now, make certain that your yarn tail is on the left side
while the working yarn, that's the yarn attached to the ball
that is on your right.
Now that you have your first stitch on your needle,
Step one is to grasp the yarn tail
with the fingers of your left hand.
Wrap the arm around your thumb
by bringing your thumb over the top of the yarn strand
and down around.
You'll have the yarn originating from the knitting needle
to inside your thumb
and it wraps around to the outside of your thumb
Counter-clockwise.
So, let's look at that again before we move on here
with step one.
We're holding the yarn and our thumb
wraps around the yarn tail.
And it's coming around counter-clockwise
around the outside of our thumb.
Once you've completed step one, let's move on to step two.
That is inserting the tip of your knitting needle
under the thumb loop to pick up the yarn.
So, let's just look at that one more time.
We're bringing our knitting needle around the outside
to pick up the yarn from the thumb loop.
Step three, hold the needle with your left hand
and wrap the working yarn around the needle
Counter-clockwise with your right hand.
Again, we're holding the needle with our left hand,
wrapping that working yard around the needle
Counter-clockwise with our right hand.
Step four is passing the thumb loop over the top
and around the needle.
Step five is just pulling those stitches
so that they're hacking your knitting needle.
Let's look at four and five again.
We're taking the thumb loop
and we are passing it over the needle tip
and then just make sure that those two yarn tails are pulled
so that they are wrapping around your knitting needle
with a nice even tension.
And continue at casting on your knitting stitches
by repeating steps one through five.
You'll see that this gives us the exact same results
as the traditional long-tail cast on method
with the Slingshot hold.
But this thumb hold is much easier
for many beginning knitters.
So, I hope it's helpful to you.
And just a reminder, when we are casting on
we're casting on the wrong side of our work.
When we turn our needle and we're ready to get knitting
we are now on the right side of our work.
And once you have your stitches cast on
the opportunities are endless for what you can knit.
I'd like to remind you that my "Knit Stitch" pattern book
does have 50 knit and purl stitch patterns
that are perfect for beginning Knitters.
It's organized into sections.
It gives you a great full color photo and knitting chart.
It tells you how many stitches to cast on
and directions for both knitting flat and in the round.
There's some really beautiful and popular patterns in here.
And I hope you give them a try.
I'll have a link to where you can purchase this book
both as a hard copy and a digital download ebook worldwide.
I hope you are inspired
to give this cast on thumb method a try.
I also have some great knitting technique
and more cast on tips and tricks for you.
I will see you here next time.
Bye.