The Crochet Chain Cast On
The crochet chain cast on is one of my favorites. When worked in a smooth, contrasting yarn it can be used as a provisional cast on, holding the stitches securely until you are ready to slip them onto a needle. When used as a regular cast on the neat little chain stitches perfectly mirror a regular bind off, making it ideal for scarves and blankets. If you crochet as well as knit this will probably be an easy technique for you, if you don’t it may take a little more practice but it’s well worth it! To begin you’ll need some yarn and an appropriately sized needle and crochet hook. The hook should be roughly the same size as the needle.
Begin with a twisted loop or slip knot on the hook.
Position the needle between the hook and the working yarn.
Yarn over hook from right to left…
and pull the loop through.
Bring the yarn to the back between needle and hook.
Ready to cast on the next stitch.
Yarn over hook…
and pull the loop through.
If you are working a regular cast on, continue casting on until you have one less than the number of stitches needed. The loop on the hook becomes the last stitch.
Slip the last stitch on the hook onto the needle.
The completed cast on.
For a provisional cast on, cast on the correct number of stitches and do not place the last loop on the needle. Instead, break the yarn and leave a long loop to make it easy to undo the cast on later.
Completed provisional cast on.
I hope this helps you to try the crochet chain cast on and it becomes one of your favorites too.
Happy knitting!