It’s well worth learning how to do the long tail cast on in knitting, because it’s quick, stretchy & neat.
It may look strange & complicated at first. But it’s super quick once you get the hang of it.
Table of Contents
Long Tail Cast On Video Tutorial
Learn how to do the long tail cast on in just 5 minutes in this short video tutorial for beginner knitters. Or there’s written step by step instructions with photos below.
Step by Step Instructions with Pictures
Here’s how the long tail cast on looks when it’s finished. Follow along below to learn how to knit this cast on.
How to Knit the Long Tail Cast On
Leave a long tail & tie a knot on your needle
You only need one knitting needle (straight or circular) to do a long tail cast on with this slingshot method.
Leave a tail at least 3 times the width of what you’re going to knit. Make a slip knot on your knitting needle and tighten it up.
Hold your knitting needle in your right hand, with the yarn ball to your top left and the yarn tail to your bottom left.
Wrap the yarn ends around your left hand
Make an L shape with the thumb and index finger of your left hand and put it under the yarn at each side of your slip knot grabbing both ends in your left hand.
The ball end of your yarn wraps over your index finger and the tail end wraps around your thumb. I use T is for Thumb and T is for Tail end to remember that.
Get comfortable holding your yarn like this, because you need to be in this starting position before you add every stitch.
Step 1: Thumb up, needle under from left to right
Holding the yarn ends in the starting position, point your left thumb up. With your right hand, put your needle tip under the yarn on the outside of your thumb from left to right.
Step 2: Finger up, needle under from right to left
Point your index finger up, and put your needle under the yarn on the thumb side of your index finger from right to left.
Step 3: Bring needle through thumb loop
Bring your thumb back so that your needle tip comes through the yarn loop around your thumb. This adds a stitch on your needle.
Step 4: Take thumb out & pull tail to tighten stitch
Take your thumb out of the yarn loop, and pull the bottom yarn tail to tighten up the new stitch.
Repeat steps 1-4 to cast on each stitch
At first, you may add each stitch separately, stopping after each one to put your thumb back in the starting position, with the yarn tail wrapped around it.
But once you get the hang of it, you can use your thumb to both tighten up the new stitch and reset for the next stitch in one go. Then it’s really quick to cast on stitches one after the other in a fluid motion.
Knitting on Straight Needles? Row 1 is the Wrong Side
If you’re knitting back and forth in rows, rather than in the round, one important thing to know when you use the long tail cast on is that your first row will be the wrong side of your knitting.
Most knitting patterns start on the right side, so if you use the long tail cast on for a pattern starting with an even number of ribbing rows, just do an odd number instead, so that your ribbing will end on a wrong side row to match your pattern.
I hope you found this knitting the long tail cast on for beginners guide helpful. This is my fave cast on & I use it for nearly all my knitting. Got any questions? Just leave a comment below and I’ll try my best to help.
Thank you for a very explicit method. It’s appreciated. Jean Mareth
You’re very welcome! So glad you found it helpful