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

[Lizbon]

Dang! I think I need to buy that book, or put it on my birthday list. I have longed to understand the provisional cast-on (all this cool stuff in Barbara Walker's Knitting from the Top uses it), but I keep getting stymied by it.

I am so lacking in confidence about it that I'm afraid to even read your nice instructions about it. Pathetic, eh? OK, I just read them but I still fear it.

[Sarah]

This is so cool! I was just thinking the other day about something I'd like to make using a provisional cast on, and try as I might the crochet way just doesn't make sense to me. Yours sounds totally doable - thanks for sharing!

[Caitlin]

Wow, I recently fell in love with the provisional cast on, but I had no idea you could do it without a crochet hook involved. I'll totally use this tutorial in the future!

[Liz]

A few months ago, I needed to do a provisional cast-on, and I'd never done one before. I don't crochet, and I don't own any crochet hooks, so I needed to learn how to do a provisional cast-on without one. This video from KnittingHelp.com was a god-send:

http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/videos//cast-on/invisible-co-rds.mpg

Also, I love that you use the word "wonky." It's a fabulous word that doesn't get used nearly enough. :)

[Smuddpie]

No shame in hiring out the knit. When I took a class from Melissa Leapman last year, she confessed that she rarely knits a complete sweater anymore. She sketches, swatches a few crucial parts, and if the powers that be are interested in the design, off it goes to a sample knitter. I was shocked. Now I am shocked at all the work you are doing for the you know. Can't wait till it comes out. Keep on plugging!

[KayB]

I used to use the crochet method for the provisional CO, but wow....so simple and effective.
Thanks for that!
I'm definitely looking forward to see you continue this series.

[stell from nz]

thank you, for a gal who dont do tutorials, you sure come across as all professional, nice work.
and
i need that book, now! how can a little post like that make me want soo so bad?

[jenn]

oh my g-d, this is fantastic! i hate hate hate crocheted provsional cast on, but didn't really know what else to do. now, i have another option. thanks!

[Estella]

The first time I did provisional caston was for a baby bolero in One Skein...I was VERY nervous about it...the word "provisional" is daunting. Well, after going online and watching a video clip I was a little less nervous and as soon as I applied myself...piece of cake. I've now added it into projects where they don't have it such as the Poppy sweater in Yarnplay...seamless is great! Can't wait to see you book.

[Dawn]

Wendy,
Thank you! I have used the crochet cast on twice for my first two pairs of socks, toe-up. But this looks really easy, I know I can do this, and it will be less messing than the crochet one.

Again - Thanks, great tutorial.

[Leanne]

Thanks for a great tutorial! I generally use a crochet chain for a provisional cast on, but since I normally cast on using the long-tail method, this would be much simpler. I will try it next time. Knowing how to do a provisional cast on (any of them) is certainly a handy thing to have in a knitter's arsenal.

[Natalie]

Thanks! You should have been a teacher (or maybe you have been since you really have had lots of random jobs.

[Judy]

I always avoid things with provisional cast-ons, because I hate the crochet kind (and I DO know how to crochet, it just is a pain) but this way totally makes sense to me. Thanks!!

[Katherine]

I have avoided provisional cast on due to an aversion to crochet hooks, and the fact that I just didn't understand it. Here, in one lesson, you have made me a believer. Thanks for making it so simple.

[gay]

i have tried this provisional cast once, it is the only one i have ever tried and i can't even remember which project i used it for but i don't remember having that extra loop, at any rate i'm looking forward to trying this again on the sahara pattern which i got last night with my beautiful new yarn! as i rememeber i had some trouble ripping out the waste and finding my live stitches!

[gay]

and may i say your nails look beautiful!

[Jennifer]

Very cool. I've been working the crochet provisional cast on (both ways) with many problems for a few months now. I've got a sister sock to make, and will try this way for the toe cast on.

Thanks!

[Jennifer]

Thank you for that! I was trying to do a provisional cast on the other day for a sweater hem, and, while trying to follow instructions for another type of p-caston did that by mistake, and froged it. After seeing this, I have confidence to try it again!

[Teresa]

Great! I've been looking to start using this method. I'm looking forward to your book by the way.

[LEO]

This is definitely my favorite provisional cast-on! I had to learn a while ago to start a sweater with a hemmed edge, and when I saw the tutorials for the crochet method I thought, "well, there's no way I'm doing that!" and I ended up using the knittinghelp.com video that somebody else linked to above... Soon your tutorial will also provide relief for many from the dreaded crochet method!

[Kate]

wow. I never knew it could be that easy. Thanks for the pictures & explaining!

[Marsha]

I just recently learned how to do socks toe up using a crochet cast on that you then pick up the stitches to knit. It's so tedious and fiddly! I can't wait to try this one or the one where you actually crochet the cast on the knitting needles. I've seen examples of the different provisional cast on's but sometimes you just have to wait until you have that "a-ha" moment! Thanks Wendy and look forward to more tutorials and a fun follow-along project!

[Miss Scarlett]

Hey - thanks that is great. You make it sound so very easy. So easy, that I am looking forward to coming across a provisional cast on in the future!
The 1st time I read that I had no clue and cast on as usual - a big wth? when I got to the 'remove waste yarn and pick up live stitches' later in the pattern. In fact that was how I first began utilizing the internet for knitting and discovered blogs.
Thanks again.

[Susan Ator]

I've looked and looked at the directions for doing a provisional cast-on like this and just couldn't get it. With you saying it's just a long-tail cast-on cleared it up IMMEDIATELY for me. Wow. Also, I never knew about dropping the slip-knot. That would make it *so* much cleaner. Thanks. Thanks so much!

[Michelle]

That's awesome! It is sooo easy! Much easier than the other versions of the provisional cast on I've seen!! I'm going to try it when I start my Saharah for the SKB knit along!!!!