Long Tail Cast On Using the Thumb Method, good for throwers and English style knitters

In this video, I demonstrate how to cast on holding the working yarn in your right hand, just as a thrower or English style knitter is used to doing. I show the standard method, with the yarn in the left hand and then show the thumb method with the working yarn on the right hand. The resulting cast on is exactly the same between the two methods.

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[theastewart]

Hi Suzanne. Great video! I learned English first then switched to Continental many years ago. I still use it occasionally for stranded colorwork. Even though I’m a continental knitter this video has a great tip! Thanks for explaining how you space out your stitches according to the needle size and gauge! Extremely helpful!! Thank you for sharing!!🤗🤗

[thriftythreader]

Brilliant! I’ve never thought of considering gauge when casting on. Thank you. I turn to your videos first, whenever I have a new technique to learn.

[monicaanderson]

I so enjoy your videos. They are concise...no long talks beforehand, the language is precise, and the quality of the picture clear. Your pacing is also good, so I don’t have to stop and try to rewind because you have done a movement too quickly. thank you.

[lizabethtaylor]

Thanks for this video. I love this way of casting on. Saving this and will practice.

[arthurlau]

This is a great alternative to the traditional long tail cast on.

[kathykeller]

Thanks, Suzanne, that's how I like to cast on as I'm a thrower and what a great tip about casting on to match the gauge of your particular pattern or desired fabric.

[taylorrhoden]

Thank you so much for this I knit English and it was so hard to find a tutorial that catered to that that made sense

[beaskjold]

Thank you Suzanne for the most concise instruction on Long Tail Cast On Method, ever. Your explanations never disappoint me!!!

[joycemorrow]

i have always used this method. I first learned it as a child knitter. I think it was because I was left handed, but knit standard method except for the cast-on. I felt somewhat ashamed of this method for many years because it didn't look as "professional" as the "cat' cradle-looking cast on even though (as you pointed out in your video) it results in the exact same look. Fortunately I learned in reading about her in a magazine that Debbie Bliss uses this method and I cast away my shame and started using the term "English method". I have had some other knitters refer to it as the "backward cast on" and I have had to correct them through demonstration. I like the gauge tip you gave. I think I have been doing this, but by now it is so automatic I didn't realize it.

[DiniAdd]

Thanks for the video. I knit English style but I flick rather than throw. I use this cast on method for the long tail cast on.

[KimberlyEllison-bf]

Thanks for this - I find it so much easier as an English-style knitter to use this method. Could you by any chance do a video for using this technique for the German twisted cast-on?

[msnookchile]

I originally learned to cast on using the e-loop method, and then it was a very easy, natural transition to this method. At the time I used long straight needles and it was very fast because I could steady the needle on my leg or hip, but once I switched to circulars, I found the "standard" (left hand) long-tail cast on much easier, although I am still a thrower.

[joanndeming]

Thank you. This is going to be very useful 🐑

[momgrandma]

Hi Suzanne. It looks like the yarn doesn’t untwist as it does with the long-tail cast on method. I’ll have to do this for my next project.

[elenabeyers]

It was not discussed but it seems to me you need a long tail of yarn coming off the thumb as the yarn you ate wrapping around the needle is coming from the ball. I have seen this done and wondered what it was.

[leah]

My only problem with this cast on is calculating the length of the tail. I
always end up with too long or too short tail.