Slip knot on one needle with a long tail

Slip stitch on one needle with ball yarn over index finger and tail over thumb

So my left hand position is with my index finger on top and the yarn from the ball over it and my thumb below and the yarn from the tail over it. You can see this in the above photo. So I then move my thumb on top and my yarn around the thumb forms a loop you then bring the needle behind the yarn from the ball and through the loop on the thumb to form a stitch.

See how I bring the needle behind the yarn from the ball through the loop to form a new stitch

I basically just move my thumb from the down position to the top position to keep on creating new stitches.

A new stitch formed

So you just keep going until you have enough stitches on the needle for your sock. I cast on all the stitches and then just move them around. That's how I do my long tail cast on.

Keep casting on until you have the correct number of stitches for your socks

Hope this is helpful. Need help? Contact me.

Happy Knitting
Sharyn

So for today's post, I thought I would tackle the casting on for our socks. Now there are many ways to cast on but for now, I will show two. We have a basic one and then we have my favourite, which I use all the time and I basically use this cast on for all my knitting.

So I will start with the first one which is a cable cast on. This is a basic cast on and it's a good cast on for a beginner. To use this type of cast on simply make a slip knot and slip this onto your dpn.


Then you slip your needle in the slip knot and wrap your yarn around so that it goes between the needles to make our second stitch.


Then just knit that stitch to keep casting on.




So to continue on you stick your needle between the first stitch and the second and then wrap the yarn around as though to knit, you then knit the stitch onto your needle.So once you have set the first two stitches you continue on casting on until you have the correct amount of stitches.

So when I cast on for socks using dpn I cast on one needle and then transfer my stitches around until I have the correct amount of stitches on all needles. When I can I divide my stitches equally between each needle. Otherwise, I put the most stitches between two needles and I make this my instep and the other stitches become my heel stitches.

So I hope this post helps with how to cast on for socks when using a basic cable cast on. In my next post, I will show you how to cast on using The Long Tail Cast On which is my preferred method.


Hope this is helpful. Need help? Contact me.

Happy Knitting
Sharyn

So today I want to talk about gauge, it's not something I enjoy but it has to be done. First off I will let you know what you have to do then I will tell you how to knit your swatch for sock knitting.

First off with any knitted swatch once it has been knitted you must wash it then once dry take several measurements over 4 inches. I usually take 2 measurements in 2 different spots and hopefully they are the same. If you get 2 different then take another measurement and hopefully after that you will have 2 the same. Once that's done just divide the number by 4. Also with knitting a swatch I always use a basic cast on and I always just do a stockinette stitch swatch for my socks.

So now let's look at knitting a circular swatch for sock knitting. I like to knit my circular swatches flat, so to do this I use my dpn and cast on enough stitches to cover my 4 inches. I then knit across these stitches, now with normal knitting I would turn this work around and purl back. So what we do is carry the yarn loosely to the start again and knit back again, so that way we are knitting every row. Now make sure to carry that yarn loosely as once we have finished our swatch and cast off, these strands will be cut. So you also want to knit the swatch large enough so that you get a good measurement.

Knit your swatch

Carry yarn loosely at back

Cast off

Cut threads

Measure 4", pin and count the stitches

Happy Knitting
Sharyn