Some (more) thoughts about cast ons

I decided to play around with some different cast ons, inspired by a thread on Ravelry about the best cast on for socks. I normally use the long tail cast on – for me it is quick, easy and effective. Sometimes getting the tail the right length annoys me, but aside from that it works for me. 

I started the experiment by trying the Chinese Waitress cast on, because someone said that they used it for a Baby Surprise Jacket and it worked really well for them. Now, I consider myself an “advanced” knitter, but I could not get the hand of it. So I gave up, and used the long tail. Quitter. 

Then I used Woolly Wormhead’s alternate cable cast on for 2 x2 ribbing for Leon’s hat. It’s a type of knitted on cast on that gives an edge a bit like the tubular cast on. 

I was quite happy with that. Stretchy and classy, looks good on both sides, although I think better on the outside than the inside.

Then I tried the provisional tubular cast on for the start of Leon’s mitts. In this method you provisionally cast on, and then knit four rows, unzip the cast on and get into the ribbing. It’s very, tight. I’ve never worked out why people say tubular cast ons are stretchy. On the second mitt I did the other kind of provisional tubular cast on, where you provisionally cast on, then do yarn overs in the first row. Same result. I also did the matching cast off, and it looks puffy.


Then I took a break from experimenting, and for Leon's scarf went back to my favourite, the classic longtail. It looks very different on different sides, but matches the cast off well.

Finally, I decided to play with the German twisted cast on. This was easy to learn and gives a nice edge. Here it is on the left compared to the normal longtail cast on for socks.

So what did I learn? 
1) Stop trying to make the tubular cast on work, the alternate cable cast on given a similar, but better result. 
2) It's fun to learn new things. 
3) Chinese waitress cast on, I'm not done here, I'm coming back to you soon.