I’ve seen some comments here and there that the Magic Cast-On as it’s shown in Knitty.com leaves a little knot on one side of the toe because you start with a slipknot. I thought that would be an easier way to anchor the yarn to the needle, figuring that when one is learning a new technique it doesn’t help to have to deal with yarn that keeps slipping. As I often do, I over-thought and confused the issue.

What I usually do instead of a knot is to loop the yarn around the needle as shown in this picture, with the tail to the left of the working yarn (assuming that you are holding the yarn in your left hand and the needle in your right hand). This “knotless” technique alleviates both the little knot at the side of the toe and the problem some people have had with the slipknot being loose.

And, speaking of tension… If you find that you have to tighten up the cast-on loops after you’ve worked a round or two, try making sure that each loop is snug around the needle next to the previously cast-on stitches before making the next loop. The two strands need to twist around each other to make the purl bumps on the under-side. If you make the stitch and don’t snug it up against the other stitches, the twist will be loose and your stitches will be loose. If you find that the loops are too tight, try using larger needles for the cast-on, and then knit off onto smaller needles.

I’m actually very pleased to know that knitters have tried this and found it useful! Please don’t hesitate to ask questions.

Rain. Yep. It’s Oregon and Halloween alright.

Actually, I usually remember Halloween here as being fairly dry. There was that one Halloween when #1 Son was about 5 or 6 that it rained cats and dogs. All of the parents making the rounds with their kids huddled under umbrellas. #1 Son, usually an irrepressible trick-or-treater, called it quits after only one block. But it was only that one year that was so bad, as I recall.

A far cry from my own childhood. I remember working so hard on my costume each year, only to have to cover it up with a coat because it was usually about 30 degrees and sometimes there was snow on the ground. Towards the end of my trick-or-treating career, I gave up and went as a ghost. At least my coat would go under it.

Have I mentioned that my father was part-owner of a wholesale company that carried, among other things, candy? Halloween was the only time of year he brought any candy home. My brother and I were allowed to pick out a couple of things for ourselves, and the rest went to the neighborhood trick-or-treaters. Our house was very popular at Halloween.

I’ve almost finished Tilt. The sleeves are blocking on my bed. The yolk pieces and the midriff piece have been attached. I need to complete the button band and the collar and attach the sleeves. The, a little steam blocking and it’ll be ready for prime time. I hope.

Last night I was knitting away on the sleeves and had made it almost to the shoulders when I looked down and saw a funny looking spot towards the wrist of one of the sleeves. I looked closer. Oops! I’d apparently put my work down at that point, and when picking it up started off the wrong way, creating a nice short row in the middle of my work. I debated about what to do. I really didn’t want to re-knit almost the entire sleeve. I tried laddering down to the “bad” spot and then recreating the row sans short-row stitches, but after two fixed stitches I realized that just wouldn’t cut it. It was too far down and there were about 20 stitches involved. Too many.

Finally, with shaking hands, I cut the offending short row out and grafted the 20 released stitches back together as they should have been. And it worked! I have a sleeve that’s nice and straight and has all rows going the full width. 🙂 It’s not a solution that I would recommend to the faint of heart, though.

I’ve not posting the Magic Cast-On. Kalani has convinced me to submit it to Knitty. We’ll see what happens. Stay tuned. Film at 11. 😆

Or a long drive anyway.

I had to drive to Seattle yesterday for a meeting. That’s 9 hours of driving for a 6 hour meeting. I left home at 5:00 AM. I arrived back home at 9:30 PM, tired to the bone and fell into bed. On the way up I made the mistake of stopping at McD’s for breakfast. Bad idea. Imagine driving and driving and driving, and then sitting and sitting and sitting, and then driving and driving and driving, all with a stomach that is mightily pissed off that you put such junk into it. Oh yeah, it was not a pretty sight.

All I can say is thank the universe for free coffee and Oreo cookies at all of the Washington rest areas along I-5. I’m not as young as I used to be, and I’m not sure I would have made it without those cookies. Yum.

I could have flown. But, what with airport travel time on both ends, going through security, etc., it takes 3 hours to fly to Seattle. I could have taken the train (and that would have been my preferred method) but I would have to go up the night before and I just didn’t want to. So I drove.

On the knitting front, not much progress. Clapotis #2 sits forlornly in its bag, glaring balefully at me as I ignore it. Tilt, that I had planned to have finished last weekend, is all finished except for the sleeves. I’ve made it up to the wrists and no further. The PNW Shawl… still holding at the seagulls. And the lovely Lorna Laces goldhill socks? Well… I have the toes 1/2 done. Judy’s Magic Cast-On toes, of course, and lovely toes they are. The socks will be lovely, too, if I ever finish them.

Do you know what Judy needs?

More time.

There are advantages to knitting socks toe-up. For example, the sock can be tried on as you go, so the fit is perfect. If you are not sure you have enough yarn, you can knit both socks at the same time and stop when your yarn runs out.

There are various ways to start a toe-up sock: Figure-8 cast-on, provisional cast-on combined with grafting, long-tail cast-on, etc. I used to use the figure-8 cast-on, but it leaves loose stitches that have to be tightened back in after a few rounds. Even
with lots of practice, I usually had to make two or three tries at it. Although invisible from the outside of the toe, on the inside the figure-8 cast-on leaves a blank space between the purl bumps of the first round.

I thought that the world needed a better way, a more humane way to start toe-up socks, so I developed Judy’s Magic Cast-On. It’s an easy to learn, fast method that starts at the very end of the toe and works the first time, every time. It’s completely invisible from both sides, and it can be used with almost any toe-up sock pattern.

Note: These instructions assume that you have some familiarity with knitting socks toe-up. The pictures show the Magic Cast-On using two circular needles. Instructions for knitting two socks at the same time and for using the cast-on with DPNs are at the bottom.

Click on any of the pictures to see a bigger version in a pop-up.

1. Hold the two needles together, with the needle that the yarn is attached to toward the top. We’ll call this needle #2 and the other needle will be needle #1.

2. Loop the yarn around needle #2 with the tail toward the front and the working yarn (the strand attached to the skein) toward the back.

3. With your left hand, pick up the yarn so that the tail goes over your index finger and the working yarn goes over your thumb. This will make a loop around the top needle that counts as one stitch.

4. a. While holding the loop in place with a finger on your right hand, bring the tip of needle #1 over the strand of yarn on your finger,
    b. around and under the yarn and back up, making a loop around needle #1 similar to a yarn over.
    c. Pull the loop snug, but not tight, around the needle.

You have cast one stitch on to needle #1.

5. Bring needle #2 over the strand of yarn on your thumb, around and under the yarn and back up, making a loop around needle #2, similar to a yarn over. Pull the loop snug around the needle.

You have cast one stitch on to needle #2.

There are now two stitches on needle #2 — the stitch you just cast on plus the first loop.

The top yarn strand always wraps around needle #1 (the bottom needle), and the bottom yarn strand always wraps around needle #2 (the top needle). Just remember: Top around bottom, bottom around top.

6. Repeat step 4 to cast a second stitch on to needle #1. (bottom around top)

7. Repeat step 5 to cast a third stitch on to needle #2. (top around bottom)

8. Continue repeating steps 4 and 5, alternating between needle #1 and needle #2, until you have cast on the desired number of stitches and ending with step 4. You will have the same number of stitches on each needle.

In this picture, a total of 20 stitches, or 10 stitches on each needle, have been cast on. The outside of the sock toe looks like two rows of offset loops. If you turn the needles over, you will see that the wrong side of the work (the inside of your sock) features a row of twists that look like purl bumps between the two needles.

Turn back to the right side to begin knitting.

9. Round 1: Drop the yarn tail and let it dangle. Turn the needles so that needle #1 is on the top. Pull needle #2 to the right until the stitches lie on the cable. Pick up the working yarn. Be sure that the yarn tail lies between the working yarn and the needle. In the picture, you can see how the tail passes under the working strand (purple arrow).

Knit the row of stitches from needle #1. The first stitch will probably become loose while you are knitting it. Pull gently on the tail to snug it back up.

You will see a row of stitches appear between the two needles.

10. Turn the work so that the working yarn is on the right and needle #2 is on the top. Pull needle #1 to the right so that the stitches you just knit lie along the cable. Pull needle #2 to the left so that its point is towards the right and the stitches are ready to knit from it. Knit the stitches from needle #2.

Be careful! The cast-on loops on needle #2 are twisted. On the first round only, be sure to knit them through the back of the loops in order to untwist them. After this round the stitches will be “normal.”

You have completed one round and are back where you started.

Note: Do the stitches between the needles appear too loose or “sloppy?” Make sure when you cast on that you have tightened each loop up individually as you placed it around the needle. Try to keep the loops at your regular gauge. If you find that your cast-on stitches are too tight, you can try casting on to a pair of larger needles.

There are two rows of stitches between the needles now. The absolute center of your sock toe lies between the two rows of stitches.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled toe-up sock pattern. Work the toe increases as specified by your pattern. If your pattern specifies a different type of toe, the following instructions are for a typical toe-up sock that starts at the very end:

Round 2: on first needle, * K1, M1, K each stitch to within one stitch of the end of the row, M1, K1, turn to second needle. Repeat from *

Round3: K all stitches on both needles (no increases).

Repeat these two rounds, increasing 4 stitches every other round, until the total number of stitches has been reached.

In this picture, 10 rounds have been worked and there are 20 stitches on each needle (40 stitches total).

Here you can see the toe spread out. The very end of the toe where the cast-on was made is right in the center. The left image is the outside of the sock and the right image is the inside.

You can see that the stitches flow over the center of the toe with no visible break or seam. The cast-on is invisible on both sides.

The tail can be woven in and trimmed at any time after you’ve worked at least one non-increase round. I usually let it dangle until I’ve finished the toe increases. Since the tail hangs at the beginning of the first round, it makes a handy way of telling which side of the sock each round starts on.

To use the Magic Cast-On for two-at-once socks, drop both the tail and the working strands when you have cast on the total number of stitches for the first sock. Push the stitches back along the needles so there is room at the tips for another set of stitches. Starting from a new ball of yarn, cast a second set of stitches on to the same needles

Work step #9 on sock #2. Drop the yarn and pick up sock #1’s yarn. Repeat step #9 for sock #1.

Work step #10 on sock #1. Drop the yarn and pick up sock #2’s yarn. Repeat step #10 for sock #2. (Don’t forget to work the stitches through the back of the loop on this round only.)

Continue with the subsequent steps, always being careful to work each sock with its own ball of yarn.

If you are knitting with DPNs, Cast on to two needles.

Work step #9 by knitting 1/2 of the stitches using one needle and the remaining 1/2 of the stitches using a second needle. The stitches may be tight and rather awkward to work. This will improve after the first round.

Work step #10 by knitting 1/2 of the stitches using a third needle, and the remaining 1/2 of the stitches using a fourth needle. (Don’t forget to work the stitches through the back of the loop on this round only.)

Note: You may also work steps #9 and #10 on two needles, and then slide 1/2 of the stitches from needle #1 to a 3rd DPN and 1/2 of the stitches from needle #2 to a 4th DPN. Use any method that ends up with 1/4 of the stitches on each of four needles.

On subsequent rounds, work the increases 1 stitch from the beginning of needles #1 and #3, and one stitch from the end of needles #2 and #4.

So, is this good for anything but socks?

Absolutely! It can be used for almost any pattern that requires casting on and working in a small closed circle. For example:

– When casting on a center-out pinwheel, cast on 5 total stitches, three on the bottom needle and two on the top. Work round one and at round 2, begin the pattern’s standard yo increases.

– To knit the bottom of an oblong bag or purse, cast on enough stitches to equal the length of the bag minus the width (i.e., if the bag will be 10″ long and 3″ wide, cast on 7″ worth of stitches). Work rounds 1, then increase 4 stitches every round until the bottom of the bag is the right size.

And when anyone asks you how you accomplished that wonderful, invisible cast-on, you can say, “It’s magic!”

Please don’t hesitate to ask questions. You can email me at .

© 2006 Judy A Becker. No commercial uses, please.