The Provisional Cast On (Is your Friend)

I admit it: I'm paying the gal at the LYS (and anyone else I can find) to knit for me. Last night she called me up and said she thought one of the patterns for the you-know needed some adjustments and would I mind popping in to try it on and see what needs to be done?

And isn't that cool? That I could pop in and try it on? I was just thinking that, if I were to design it from the hem up, the trying-on part wouldn't happen until much later, and oh man. The price I would pay her to re-knit the sucker from the bottom up, once it reaches my bust, or worse, the shoulder.

All that aside, as I have worked on this project, I have been thinking about how to make fabulous sweaters and such and being able to sort of design as you go, and since only a handful of them are the raglan type, I have had to utilize the dreaded Provisional Cast On.

Truth be told: I didn't really figure it all out until last night. (Just don't tell my editor.)

Some of the Provisional Cast On techniques utilize a chain you make using a crochet hook. Another one that works pretty well entails actually crocheting stitches directly onto your knitting needle. There are some knitting types, but honestly, you'd have to be some sort of a knitting savant to figure that out.

I'm not the tutorial kind of gal, but shoot.  I want to encourage you guys to flex your Provisional Cast-On muscles so when my book comes out, you don't all faint in one fell swoop and next thing we know the government is shutting down all the local yarn stores due to some strange fugue that all of a sudden felled a big long line of knitters. (Was it the stuff they washed the alpaca with? Some funky dung? What about all those bunny-hair fibers? Could it be those knitters sniffed too many angora yarn balls and their lungs, eyelashes and nose hairs decided to shut down?)

So, just to test the waters, I thought I'd ask HWWV to take a few pics of the beginnings of my favorite, and what I consider the most effective, provisional cast-on. I'm thinking if you like this, I'll continue the series and maybe we all can come up with a fun and easy pattern utilizing the technique that we can do together. You know, something to sort of warm us all up.

1. First thing you do is find some funky, slippery yarn that you don't plan on using. Call it your Waste Yarn (My waste yarn is the yellow stuff).
2. Get your "working yarn" ready (My working yarn is the fuchsia stuff).
3. I'm assuming you know the long-tail cast on: Get ready for your long-tail cast on, but before you do that, make a slip knot with both of the yarns and place it over your needle. You know, just make your slip knot with both of them side-by-side.
4. Then, set up for your long-tail cast on, but put the non-working--or waste yarn--over your thumb. The working yarn goes over the index finger.
5. Cast on, as usual, but notice as you do this that the waste yarn makes a nice chain at the bottom of your needle. If you make a working loop (one that sits over your needle) with your waste yarn, then you've make a mistake.
6. Before you cut the waste yarn, check and see that all the working yarn is looped on the needle and the waste yarn is "chained" below it. Count your stitches--but don't count the original slip knot for your final count. Cut your waste yarn, turn your work, and begin working your stitches as called for in the pattern. When you reach your slip knot, drop it. Let it hang while you knit.
7. When it's time to place the stiches you cast on provisionally, all you need to do is unzip the stitches (very slowly) and place them on your needle. Start from where you cast on. Slowly pull out the waste yarn to reveal your live stitches. Just note that if your first row calls for fancy stitches, like yarn-overs and such, you'll need to take extra care.

This is a fantastic way to start working a knitting project at a place where we would normally place a seam or switch directions. If we cast on provisionally, all we need to do is place these live stitches back on the needles and work in the new direction without a seam.

Seamless (I can remember wearing panty hose, and let me tell you the seams, they used to stay on my skin for at least twelve hours after I tore them off while driving home in traffic) is pretty cool. Seamless is your friend. Especially when you don't want a nasty bump-ridge along the line across your shoulder. The one that shouts: "This is Hand-Made and My Seam is Wonky As All Get-Out."

Anyway. The best explanation of the Provisional Cast On is one I found in "When Bad Things Happen to Good Knitters: An Emergency Survival Guide." You'd think that in this little book there'd be nothing but basic stuff, but reading through it, well, it's a goldmine. I've read and re-read everything there is to know about Provisional Cast-on's, but when I read pages 30 - 32 in this book, it all came clear.

Kind of like that cool little thing taped on the wall at the doctor's office, the thing they split in half and wave under your nose when you faint. It was eye-opening like that.

Comments

[Mel]

Great tutorial Wendy! Clear as spring water! :)

This is now my favorite provisional cast-on. I can do the crochet one, but I can never seem to unzip smoothly. I always have to fiddle with it.

And for the "you know," I will be the first one in line to buy it around these parts.

You and I are of the same bent when it comes to seams. Why do all that knitting and then have to spend all that time trying to get the seams sewed up correctly? The fewer seams the better, I say. Seamless in our friend! :)

[Kristen]

Thank you! Thank you! I first used PCO when I knit twinkletoes from Knitty Winter 2006. I found the type where you crochet right on to the knitting needle. And while it worked, it took me forever. I (unless forced to use another CO) always use LTCO. Thanks for speeding up my knitting. KM

[Angie]

DANG! You make that look easy, I've been procrastinating the STR club socks because I don't know how to "provisional cast on". Long tail cast on with 2 different yarns, now THAT I can do! Do you think it will work?

[Maureen]

Thank you 2 million times for this. I needed a good provisional cast on. I have some ideas for which it could be very useful.

[Terri]

That is the cast-on technique I learned in a toe-up sock class at Stitches. I agree it's a nice method, no crochet hooks, etc. Do you have any tips, though, for pulling out the waste yarn? It all made sense in class, but naturally when I got home and the nice instructor wasn't leading me by the hand, I just picked and picked at that thing till I basically ruined several rows of knitting. Does the book you mention have idiot-proof instructions for this scenario? I just couldn't get the darn thing started (the undoing) and it was a sad mess. Sigh.

[Beth]

THANK YOU WENDY, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!! I've been knitting the urban rustic gloves in knitty, which calls for a provisional cast on for each of the fingers, and I've been hating this project because I've been doing the provisional cast with a crochet hook. This way is soooooo much better. And so well written. THANK YOU

[Eileen]

Is it really that easy? You'd never know it from all the tutorials I've looked at. I've always felt a bit intimidated by it. Thanks!!

[Tammy]

I spent hours doing a crochet chain provisional cast-on for a top a few weeks ago... 222 stitches on size 2 circulars mind you. In the back of my mind, I knew I'd done it another way before but being a follow-the-directions type I figured there must be some specific reason this sweater had to be cast on just that way. Did I mention it took hours?!

My bottom line question is... can either method be used for a provisional cast-on? You just want to be able to release live stitches when all is said and done right?

[Christy]

ooh, where was this tutorial two days ago when I started a toe-up sock? I have a hard time with the crochet chain versions and couldn't find a knit version when I needed it.

Will be printing this and keeping it in a safe place so I can find it at all hours!

[Bridget]

Fabulous! I've been trying quite a few provisional cast-ons for the last few years, (even some I invented myself) and have not found one that worked well. Your technique is brilliant, and will be very easy to do, and get right. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

[melissa]

thank you! this makes so much sense to me.

[ksfishgirl]

wow, that makes it sound so easy!!! Now I'm gonna hafta try it ;)

[cdsfigley]

Boy could I have used this a few nights ago when I started Sahara. I used a crochet hook and when I tried to take the provisional stitches out I had to pick them one by one. I also agree with you about stranded/fair isle knitting. I feel like a complete klutz having tried several variations. My hat brim curls out real pretty but the hat is for my mister.

[Maryanne]

Thanks so much for the tutorial Wendy! I saw this on Knitty Gritty recently, but hadn't thought about it again until I saw your tutorial and realized I'll need this for Sahara. I love your idea of having more of these and maybe working on some kind of project together to "warm up" for your book :) Thanks again!!

[Erin]

Wendy, you're a genius! I just made my first foray in provisional cast-ons with the crochet chains and the picking up and knitting -- not a bad way to go, really, but time consuming as all get out. But this seems so much easier and faster. Which is good, because I'm now completely in love with the looks (and potential) of the provisional cast on.
Thanks.

[Pani Thuly]

So that's how a provisional cast on is done!! I think the tutorial thingy is a great idea, please keep them coming.

[Pani Thuly]

So that's how a provisional cast on is done!! I think the tutorial thingy is a great idea, please keep them coming. And thanks for this one.

[Knitting Nettie]

I feel like I just had one of those "Ah-ha!!" moments that Oprah talks about! Not as dramatic as smelling salts but I think the facial expression could be considered the same :-) ....and it can be added to that list of "knitters face" that you blogged about a while back!! There is concentration, confusion, dont' talk to me I'm counting and now we can add "getting it"!

[Beth K]

Pretty nifty! I have tried that cast on before off another site and I thought I was too stupid to do it, but how you show it makes it easy, I can do a long tail cast on, easy!

[Kathleen Fivel]

You're the savant, Wendy. Thank you for making this so clear! I've been thinking of modifying the glove pattern in Handknit Holidays to make them loooong but wanted to do the hands first and then knit up the arms. Now, I can. Danke!

[Martha]

That book is simply the best! I found it a few months ago and it sits beside my bed.

[Rennagayle]

How amazing (to me!) that you posted this at this precise time that I'm just beginning my first project which requires a provisional cast on. Thanks for taking the time to share! :-)

[MonkeyGurrl]

Holy moly. I was afraid to even say the words "provisional cast on" out loud - it just sounds like some complicated medical procedure. You've made it very uncomplicated. Now I can't wait to need to use it for. . . something. I'll make something up tonite. :) Thanks!

[Rennagayle]

PS-The jellybeans look mighty tasty, too. I think I'll wait until after Easter for the half-price bags, though. ;-)

[Katie]

WOW! I completely understood that on the first read through (most knitting instructions take me three or four times). Long tail cast on is my absolute favorite, thanks so much for teaching me a completely different one yet it's the same method. You're a genius!