Probably the easiest cast on is the method called the simple or half hitch cast on. It produces a row of loose stitches and works up so quickly that it’s my preferred method for swatches and other obscenities. If you know the long-tail cast on, the half hitch is the first part of that, and no long tail is needed.

Here’s how it’s done:

Note: these instructions assume you’re right-handed.

1. Tie a slip knot around the needle, and hold the needle in your right hand. For this cast on, there is only one needle, and it is always in your right hand.
2. Position your left hand as if you were holding a glass of water. The thumb and index finger form an open circle, and the side of your hand (your pinky) is what would rest on the table if one were in front of you.
3. Lay the yarn over your thumb and index finger. The ball end goes over your index finger. The tail goes over your thumb. The needle is pointing left and resting on the side of your hand, roughly where the thumb and index finger meet.
4. Curl the middle, ring, and pinky fingers of your left hand into the palm, tucking the two hanging strands of yarn into them. When you do, the yarn in your left hand forms a down-pointing triangle. There’s a horizontal line between your thumb and index finger, a diagonal line from index to middle finger, and another diagonal line from thumb to middle finger. The needle is on top of the horizontal line, resting both on the yarn and on the side of your left hand. Use the curled fingers to put a little tension on the yarn as you work the remaining steps.
5. Rotate the needle so that it is pointing at you. It passes over the horizontal line, so the triangle is still fairly in tact.
6. Bring the tip of the needle down, stopping when it touches the fleshy part of your palm at the base of your thumb. The needle is between you and the yarn.
7. Slide the tip of the needle up your thumb, stopping when the tip of the needle is on the tip of your thumb. The needle tip has slid behind the leg of the triangle that goes from thumb to middle finger. By the time the tip of the needle reaches the tip of the thumb, it is inside a loop that surrounds the thumb.
8. Pull your thumb out of the loop, and in the same movement, use your thumb to catch and tug on the yarn that is between the needle and your middle finger. The gesture is like opening a pair of scissors to cut. This tug tightens the loop on the needle.
9. Move the needle back to the starting position, on top of the horizontal line of the inverted triangle, and repeat Steps 5 to 8.
10. Knit across the cast-on stitches.

Step 10 is important. The cast-on stitches themselves are so loose that they don’t really keep their shape when you divide them over several needles or even drop them in a bag to return to later, so working the first row, preferably with knit stitches firms them up.

I often use this cast on when I need to add stitches to the middle or end of a row because the point where the cast on meets the rest of the work is tidier than with other methods.

Another plus is that this cast on can easily become a provisional cast on (a topic to be covered in detail later). In a nutshell, after Step 9, you would run a second needle between the stitches that have been cast on and leave it there until it’s time to knit from that needle.

With this cast on in your bag of tricks, you have a simple and serviceable method for starting ordinary work and a secret weapon for doing more complex knitting.

The cable cast on is another one of my favorite ways to begin a piece of knitting. It produces an attractive rope-like edge, so it’s nice for hats, socks, mittens, collars, and other projects that put the cast-on edge in a potentially prominent position.

This cast on involves both needles. The steps are almost identical to the knit-on cast on. The only difference is that, instead of inserting the right needle into the first stitch, you insert it between the first and second stitches.

Here’s how it’s done:

Notes:
• the first stitch is the one closest to the tip of the needle.
• These instructions assume you’re right handed.

Casting on Knit Stitches

1. Cast on 2 stitches using any cast on you like.
2. Hold the needle with the stitches in your left hand if it isn’t there already. The left needle points to the right or possibly up.
3. Insert the tip of the right needle between the first and second stitches on the left hand. The right needle goes in from front to back. It slides under the left, and the needles are roughly perpendicular to each other, forming a cross or an X.
4. Wrap the working yarn around the right needle. For English knitters, the yarn is wrapped counterclockwise. For continental knitters, the right needle tip starts behind the working yarn and scoops it as the needle moves toward you in the next step. In both cases, the yarn is in the back of the work.
5. Slide the right needle toward you and out of the loop. to keep the working yarn from falling off the needle, place the tip of the right needle on the shaft of the left, and smoothly slide the right needle tip down the length toward the thick base or cable. (Is anyone else getting warm?)
6. Once the new stitch is on the right needle and once the right needle is in front of the left, hold the needles perpendicular to each other, forming a cross or an X. Both needles are pointing up, and they intersect at the stitch.
7. Move your right hand to the right, stopping when the tips of the two needles are touching each other. To be clear, the needles form a bridge or inverted V. The left one is on the left, and the right one is on the right. The new stitch is still on the right needle, stretching from between the first two stitches on the left.
8. Slip the new stitch from the right needle to the left, and tug on the working yarn to tighten.
9. Repeat Steps 3-8 for each additional stitch.

This version of the cast on makes a knit row because everything except Step 3 is what you normally do for a knit stitch.

If you want to cast on purl stitches,, like for ribbing, the process is the same except that you insert the right needle from behind the work and wrap as for a purl stitch.

Casting on Purl Stitches

1. Cast on 2 stitches using any cast on you like.
2. Hold the needle with the stitches in your left hand if it isn’t there already. The left needle points to the right or possibly up.
3. Insert the tip of the right needle between the first and second stitches on the left hand. The right needle goes in from back to front. It slides under the left, and the needles are roughly perpendicular to each other, forming a cross or an X.
4. Wrap the working yarn around the right needle. For English knitters, the yarn is wrapped counterclockwise. For continental knitters, the working yarn is in front of the right needle and goes over the top and down behind the needle. In both cases, the yarn is in the back of the work.
5. Slide the right needle away from you and out of the loop. to keep the working yarn from falling off the needle, place the tip of the right needle on the shaft of the left, and smoothly slide the right needle tip up the length toward the tip of the left. (Is anyone else getting warm?)
6. Once the new stitch is on the right needle and once the right needle is behind the left, hold the needles perpendicular to each other, forming a cross or an X. Both needles are pointing up, and they intersect at the stitch.
7. Move your right hand to the right, stopping when the tips of the two needles are touching each other. To be clear, the needles form a bridge or inverted V. The left one is on the left, and the right one is on the right. The new stitch is still on the right needle, stretching from between the first two stitches on the left.
8. Slip the new stitch from the right needle to the left, and tug on the working yarn to tighten.
9. Repeat Steps 3-8 for each additional stitch.

There you have it: a decorative cast on that is easy to learn. Try it on your next project, especially if the cast-on edge is something other people might notice.

My favorite way to start a piece of knitting is the long-tail cast on. It produces a row of stitches on a nice sturdy base, which is both attractive and firm enough to keep its shape while I divide the work onto other needles. It’s one of those techniques that is easy and fluid once you get the hang of it, but hard to learn from books and online sources because the explanation is tough going. So … here’s one more attempt at putting the long tail cast on into words:

Some clarification:
A. These instructions assume you’re right handed.
B. This is called the “long tail cast on” because you need to start with a tail of yarn that is long enough to work all of your stitches, but not so long that yarn is being wasted or getting in the way when you’re ready to start knitting. Calculating the length of the tail is an art. The short, get-the-job-done version is to make the tail about 3.25 times the length of the first row, so if the first row is supposed to be 10 inches long, the tail should be about 32.5 inches. This is a little on the generous side, but it’s easier to weave and snip than to have to start over when the yarn runs out. For this example, use a tail that is 1 ft or 30 cm long. This means the slip knot in Step 1 is a foot or 30 cm from the end.
C. Once you feel comfortable with this cast on, you can get started simply by twisting the yarn around the needle instead of making a slip knot.

1. Tie a slip knot around the needle, and hold the needle in your right hand. For this cast on, there is only one needle, and it is always in your right hand.
2. Position your left hand as if you were holding a glass of water. The thumb and index finger form an open circle, and the side of your hand (your pinky) is what would rest on a table if one were in front of you.
3. Lay the yarn over your thumb and index finger. The ball end goes over your index finger. The tail goes over your thumb. The needle is pointing left and resting on the side of your hand, roughly where the thumb and index finger meet.
4. Curl the middle, ring, and pinky fingers of your left hand into the palm, tucking the two hanging strands of yarn into them. When you do, the yarn in your left hand forms a down-pointing triangle. There’s a horizontal line between your thumb and index finger, a diagonal line from index to middle finger, and another diagonal line from thumb to middle finger. The needle is on top of the horizontal line, resting both on the yarn and on the side of your left hand. Use the curled fingers to put a little tension on the yarn as you work the remaining steps.
5. Rotate the needle so that it is pointing at you. It passes over the horizontal line, so the triangle is still fairly in tact.
6. Bring the tip of the needle down, stopping when it touches the fleshy part of your palm at the base of your thumb. The needle is between you and the yarn
7. Slide the tip of the needle up your thumb, stopping when the tip of the needle is on the tip of your thumb. The needle tip has slid behind the leg of the triangle that goes from thumb to middle finger. By the time the tip of the needle reaches the tip of the thumb, it is inside a loop that surrounds the thumb.
8. Describe a circle with the tip of the needle, moving it away from you and over the strand that is between the needle and your index finger, then down behind that strand, then toward you and under that strand, then back to the tip of your thumb.
9. Slide the tip of the needle down your thumb and back into the big loop of yarn surrounding it, stopping when the needle tip reaches the first bend in your thumb.
10. Pull your thumb out of the big loop, and in the same movement, use your thumb to catch and tug on the yarn that is between the needle and your middle finger. The gesture is like opening a pair of scissors to cut. This tug tightens the loop on the needle.
11. Move the needle back to the starting position, on top of the horizontal line of the inverted triangle, and repeat Steps 5 to 11.

As the cast-on becomes familiar, it softens into a series of curves, the needle tip arcing down and up, the thumb bending forward and stretching back, until the movements stop being separate and merge into one graceful sweep.