Provisional Cast-On with a crochet hook

Provisional Cast-On with a crochet hook

A provisional cast-on is a handy trick to know when hand knitting.  The idea is that the stitches that you cast on are held on waste yarn.  You can then work your piece of knitting, knowing that your stitches are safe.  When ready, you can peel away the waste yarn and have lovely row of live stitches to work with.  This allows you to knit away in the opposite direction without having the need of grafting or seaming.  Or, it can form the basis for a more complex cast-on such as the tubular cast-on. Once you know this technique, you’ll find many place to use it. 

There are many different variations of a provisional cast-on.  This one, using a crochet hook, is one of my favourites.

Here’s how to work it:

black and white line drawing showing the yarn held around the crochet hook and underneath the knitting needle

Step 1:

Place a slip knot on the crochet hook, then place the yarn behind the knitting needle.  If you know how to, you may want to crochet a few chains to give yourself room to work, through this is not required.

Step 2:

Bring the crochet hook over the knitting needle and hook the yarn.
black and white line drawing showing the yarn held around the crochet hook and underneath the knitting needle, the hook catches the yarn on the far side of the knitting needle
black and white line drawing showing the yarn wrapped around the knitting needle and the loop pulled through the crochet hook

Step 3:

Draw the yarn over the needle, and through the loop on the crochet hook. 1 stitch cast on.

Step 4:

Take the yarn behind the knitting needle, and repeat steps 1-4 for as many stitches as desired.  Once complete, again you may want to crochet a few chains, pull the yarn through the final loop and mark this end.  This is the end you will need to use when you take the waste yarn out (trying to unravel the yarn from the wrong end is a pain).  I put a knot on the tail.  

black and white line drawing showing the yarn wrapped around the knitting needle and the loop pulled through the crochet hook

An alternative crochet provisional cast-on

If you know how to crochet you can also work this provisional cast-on in an alternative way. Begin by crocheting a chain around 10 links longer than the number of stitches you wish to cast on.

Turn the chain so that the bumps on the reverse side are visible. Beginning from about the 5th chain, pick up a stitch from each bump in turn, until you have the right number of stitches for your provisional cast-on. Then start knitting!

Once you are ready to come back to these stitches, you can peel away the crochet chain to reveal the live stitches ready to be worked.  Don’t forget to mark the tail of yarn that is at the end of the crochet chain (see step 4 above), that way you know which direction to unravel the chain – saving yourself much heartache.

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