Four Knitting Cast On Methods - From Beginner to Advanced!

1. Introduction: Hello everyone and welcome back. My name is Madeline for meeting house square. And I had so much fun making my last Skillshare video about how to knit in the round using magic loop. If you're curious about that one, check out my profile. So today I'm back to show you some different cast on methods. So, but I thought could be incredibly useful for beginner knitters is to examine a couple different casts on videos all at one time. So what I'm gonna do in this video is I'm gonna take you through four different cast on methods. We're going to go from a simple line to a more advanced cast on. So the forecast on methods we're going to be looking at are first the backward loop cast on, next, the knitted cast on. Next up is the long tail cast on. And then lastly, the German twisting cast on. So these forecasts on methods you can really apply to any different project that you're working on. And this way you can find a cast on method that works well for you and the projects that you're knitting. Lastly, for the project in this video, I'm going to take you through how to apply these different casts on methods together. So we're going to need a small sample where we use both the long tail cast on and the German twisted capstone. We work up a bit thrower and then we're going to add a button hole and use the backward loop cast on to react in those stitches. So just one application of how you can use multiple different cast ons. So I'm really excited to take you through each one of these cats styles. First, we're just gonna go through a quick overview of what each one of these different capstone methods looks like. What are some of the pros, the cons, how much you earned do you need for each one of the capstones? Then I'm going to take you through how to actually work each one of these gas stones. So let's get started. 2. Lesson 1: Cast On Overview : So here small samples of each one of the cast on methods we're going to be going through today. So I worked each one of these samples exactly the same way. So what I did is I went across and I cast on 13 stitches. And then for my first row, I started with a pearl row and I worked pearl. Then I turned my work work knit and I did a small sample in that document stitch. So a cast on and then my first row with a pearl row. So depending on the pattern and might have your first row via pearl row or a knit row. But for all the samples I started with a pearl row. Now, there are a couple of things to note when looking at these different samples. So first, I've arranged them here from easiest with the backward loop. Next up would be the net cast iron, then the long tail and Alaska, the German twisted capstone would be the most advanced casts on that, but I'm showing here. So there's a couple of things to consider. First is what is the Capstone method look like? So sometimes we might prefer something like this one over here, the long tail cast on where we should have the signal loop along that bottom edge. Other times you may prefer something like this backward loop capstone where we have that double loop along the bottom edge. The next thing that I like to consider is what is the sketchiness? And this is probably the number one thing that I consider when choosing a cast on method. So there's various ranges of stretching this, among these capstone methods, the ones that are going to be stretching or are going to be the backward loop, the long tail, and the German twisted nick cast on method is not quite as stretchy. So you can even just see you when I try and stretch out the sample, it's really quite tight. Let me take out the pins to really show it. But you can see it moves a little bit, but really doesn't move that much. That is as tight casts on method. Now if I look at one of these two over here, which are my favorite casts on methods to use the long tail and the German twisted cast on. These ones are incredibly stretchy cast stones. So these two over here are great for things like the brim of a hat, the cuff of the glove, the beginning of a sweater sleep the top of a SOC. Those are going to be where you're going to want to use these two applications over here. So let's zoom in on each one and look at what it looks like. So starting up here with the backward loop cast on, you can see that we kind of have these two loops down here at the bottom, and that's our cast on edge. And then we just have our work coming out right above that. So what you can't see in this Capstone method is that it's not perfectly even. So I have been knitting for quite a long time and I have fairly good tension. But I even have trouble getting the tension exactly right all the way across the backward loop cast on. So that can be one downside that this castle method. And you'll see exactly why that happens when I go to show with this method. Next up is the knit cast on method. So this one, again, we have the double loop down at the bottom. And these, all these capstones will look slightly different if instead of starting off with a pearl row, you start with an intro. So keep that in mind. So down near the bottom I have a double loop down here at the bottom. It does create a really nice clean edge. So like the tension of this cast on is gorgeous. The only downside though is that it isn't very stretchy. Next up we have the long tail cast on, and this would actually creates an edge that's fairly similar to this backward loop cast on. The backward loop cast on does tend to like roll up a little bit, so it appears as two loops, whereas this long tail cast on will appear as one loop once you block it. So a really nice clean edge on the bottom. And then again it is incredibly stretchy. And then lastly down here we have the German twisted Kastner. And this one we do again have that double loop going on. And then again, when we look at the stretch here, quite stretchy. The last thing I want to note here is, where's the tail when you cast on? So you'll see over here on the left-hand side, the backward loop and the NIC cast on our capstone tail is over here on the right-hand side of our work when we're looking at the friend. And that's because when we cast on, we don't actually cast on using the tail. We're going to cast on using only are working yarn. Now over here on the long tail cast on and the German twisted cast on, our tails are over here on the left-hand side. And the reason they're over here on the left-hand side is because we, when we cast on along that bottom edge, we're going to cast on using both our tail and are working yarn. So that differentiation between the two is going to be important when we're deciding how much urine we need room creating the cast on. 3. Lesson 2: Creating a Slip Knot: When working each one of these casts on methods, I'm going to be using vanish choice yarn, which is a worsted weight or number 4 yarn, and it's just in four different color ways. And then for my knitting needle, I'm using a size usaid knitting needle and you can use straight knitting needles or circular node labels. Either one works perfectly well. So to start out in each one of these casts on methods, we have to create a slipknot. And as I noted just before in the previous lesson, we need to decide where to actually create the slip knot. So on these two over here on the left-hand side, the backward loop and the knit cast on. We actually don't need that long of a tail, right? So we don't actually use this table to cast on. It's purely here just to weave in at the end. So in that case, we only need about eight inches or so of tail. And then we can create our slipknot and begin working the cast on. Whereas over here on the other hand side, if we're working the long tail cast on or the German twisted cast on, we're going to need a longer tail. And the length of the tail depends on how many stitches you're casting on. For these two, I'm only casting on 13 stitches. So that's about eight inches for me. So I'm going to need eight inches to cast on with and then another eight inches to be my tail. So I'm going to leave about 16 inches to cast on with. And then I'm going to create my slipknot. And that's going to be the same for the long tail and the German twisted. So the first one, let's say I'm working this backward loop Caston because that'll be the first video we're working. So for the backward loop cast on, I'm going to take my yarn and go over about eight inches. Then I went to lay my hands behind my yarn. So I have what I call my working yarn further away for me. And then my tail is closer to me and it's just draped over my left hand. Now I want to grab the strand of yarn with my bottom three fingers. And I'm going to hold onto my working yarn. I'm going to take it back behind my index finger, go down below towards myself, up to the top again. Back behind down to the bottom. Towards myself, up to the top. Back behind down to the bottom again. Now I'm going to grab on to the second strand with my other three fingers. So now essentially like I have 2.5 loops around my pointer finger. So now to actually create the slipknot, we're going to rearrange these loops. So to do that, I'm going to take my second loop and I'm going to move it up over closer to the tip of my finger so that I have a new first loop and a new second loop. Now I'm gonna take that new second loop. And again, I'm going to move that one up over. So now this one's the new first loop again. Now I'm going to take the new second loop and I'm going to slide it off my finger. So now I have a slipknot and then I have a little tail. Now when I place it on my knitting needle, I want to place it on my knitting needles so that the tail is closest to me, the working earnest furthest away. I'm going to put my knitting needle into this going from right to left. And then I pull on my tail to secure it onto the knitting needle. So that is a slipknot, and this slipknot does count as your first stitch. So we've already cast on one stitch. So now instead, let's suppose I was knitting the long tail or the German twisted cast on where I needed a longer tail. So all I do is I take a little bit more yarn over here to my tail portion. And then I create this look not the exact same way. So I lay my hand behind that strand of yarn, the tail closest to me, the working arm for this two-way going to grab onto it and my bottom three fingers going to loop my yarn back behind down to the bottom, up to the top. Back behind down to the bottom, towards myself, up to the top, back down to the bottom again, grab onto my bottom three fingers. Now I'm going to rearrange the loops. So I'm going to the second loop, move it closer to the tip of my fingers so it becomes the first loop. Take the new second loop. Again, bring it up closer to the top so it becomes the new first loop. Take this second loop, slide it off my finger. And now again, I have a slipknot and I would just put it on my knitting needle the exact same way. So I have a long tail closest to me. The working yarn further away. I'm going to put in my knitting needle going from right to left, tight-knit by pulling on the tail. So that is all there is to the slipknot. 4. Cast On Method 1: Backward Loop: Now first, let's work through this backward loop capstone. So again, we don't need a very long tail, so molecularly about eight inches or so for my tail and create my slipknot. So I've just created my slipknot and the first or the previous lesson of this class. And so all I want to do now is begin the cast ons. So my slipknot does count as my first stitch. And the way I like to hold my knitting needle when working this cast on method is my knitting needle point over here towards the left. And I'm going to hold onto my knitting needles so that I'm holding onto my tail. Just holding it up against the knitting needle. And then I hold onto the slipknot with my pointer finger just to make sure it doesn't slide off the knitting needle. So again, I'm holding onto my tail, my right hand, holding it up against the knitting needle, just so I don't accidentally start casting on with that. And then I'm going to hold on to this slipknot are my first stitch using my right pointer finger. Now to cast on, I'm gonna take my left hand and I'm going to place it behind this strand of yarn. So again, I have my working on further away for me. So I'm gonna take my left hand and put it behind the working yarn. Now I'm going to grab on to that strand of my bottom three fingers. And I'm gonna take my pointer finger and I'm going to move it towards myself. Then up over that strand of yarn, back to the back, down to the bottom, and then up to the top again. So when I look at my finger, I basically have 1.5 loops around my finger. Now I'm going to take my right knitting needle or the nebula holding onto right now. And I'm going to slide it underneath. So in between these two loops around my finger, go underneath that top loop, slide it off my finger and onto the knitting needle. Then I just gently pull on it, don't pull too tight or also it will become incredibly hard to MIT. And it'll slide onto the knitting needle and tighten up Mason snap there. Now to show that one more time, I'm going to put my left hand behind my working yarn. Grab onto If my bottom three fingers. Now I'm going to take my pointer finger, go towards myself underneath that strand, up the front to the top of that strand, back behind down to the bottom again, towards myself, up to the top. So I have like 1.5 strands. They're gonna take my right knitting needle, go in-between those two loops on my finger, go underneath that top loop, slide it off my finger and onto the knitting needle. So now instead of dropping the yarn each time, I'm just going to again take my finger, go down below the strand, up to the top, back behind again to the bottom, up to the top again. Slide off my finger and onto the knitting needle. So it becomes very quick to work this cast on method over and over again. Okay, So there if casts on my 13 stitches and as I noted in that intro portion of the video, it can be incredibly hard to keep the tension correct when using this gas on method. So you can see that if I stretch out this cast on method, there's just huge bars of urine that forms. So those bars are alright and they'll even out eventually. But you just want to keep them basically as close together as you can for this point until you've worked a row. So what I wanna do is I'm just going to turn my work to knit my first row. And I'm going to Pearl across this first row. You can pearl or net across it depending on your pattern. So let's pearl across this first row. And even as you're knitting it, you're going to see this, these huge bars forming there. All right, just keep working across and try to not pull your stitches too far apart. Okay. So now when I turn my work again, we can see that casts on edge and those bars have mostly even out along that bottom edge. So that is the backward loop casts on Method. 5. Cast On Method 2: Knit: Next up, I'm going to be working the knitted cast on. So again, I just have my short tail and my slipknot, all my knitting needle. And again, for this one that we'd only need the short tail because this one, we don't carry the tail across. The tail is just to weave in later on. So when I actually started this cast on method, instead of my knitting needle point going over towards the left, I actually wanted to go over towards the right. So this one goes the opposite direction of the backward loop cast iron. I'm going to hold my knitting needle. So the point is going over towards the right. Again, I've my slipknot, all my knitting needle, my working yarn is coming out now the front of that slipknot, the tail is coming out the back. And the way I like to hold this is I'm going to hold the tail up against that knitting needle as I hold it. Just so I don't accidentally start casting on with the tail. It happens quite a bit. So how this one's actually worked is we're just going to go into this first stitch as if to knit. So I'm gonna take my free knitting needle point and I'm going to go into the base of this stitch starting at the left, going towards the right into the base of that slipknot. Gonna wrap my yarn around starting at the bottom, going clockwise, back down in the bottom, pull that through the slipknot. So I just worked a regular knit stitch. Now I just want to gently tug on this so it becomes a little bit larger. Again, I'm tugging on the material being held in my right hand. And now I want to twist it. So it's almost like I'm now holding my two knitting needles parallel. And I want to take my left knitting needle point, go all the way over here to the inside of that stitch, go underneath that bar and slide it onto my left knitting needle. Now I'm just going to gently tug on that to tighten it up a bit. Now to show that again. Now instead of going into the sub naught, I'm going to go into this new first stitch. I'm going to go into the base of it, going from left to right just as if I would normally be knitting, wrap my yarn around, pull through, tug on it so that it becomes a little bit larger. And again, I kind of make my two knitting needles parallel to each other. And now I'm going to take my left knitting needle point, go to the inside of that top-most bar and slide it from the right knitting needle onto the left knitting needle. And then just pull it a little bit snug. And this is all there is to it. So I just go into the new first-stage, knit that stitch, then twist it, slide it onto the left knitting needle. And I'm going to go all the way across this edge for as many switches is you need a casting. Casting on each one of these stitches. Now if you ever cast on too many stitches like I just did, you just take the one you cast on that It's too many slighted off your knitting needle. And then he basically was pulling your working yarn and it just disappears. Soon. I had the same number as my other samples. And in this cast on method, when you work across this first row, you don't actually have to turn your work at all, right, we already have the working yarn over here. It's in the correct place. So I'll just go right into the first stitch and you can either inhibit or Perl it for consistency with the rest of my samples. I'm going to Pearl across this first row. Now to work my next row, I would just turn my work again. And now I could knit across this side. So that is the NIC cast on. 6. Cast On Method 3: Long Tail: So next step I'm going to be working the long tail cast on. So this cast on method, you do need a longer tail for it because as the title notes, the long tail cast on. But you do need a longer tail for it because we're going to be holding both of these strands and casting on with both the working yarn and the tail at the same time. So to cast on with this method, I have my knitting needle point going over towards the left. I keep my working yarn further away for me and then my tail closer to me. And that's the same way the slip knot is placed on the knitting needle, right? I have the tail coming out the front, the working yarn coming out the back. And then I'm just going to hold onto this slipknot which does count as my first stitch with my pointer finger, my right hand. Now to actually work this cast on method, I'm going to take my left hand and I'm gonna put it behind both of the strands coming up my knitting needle. Then I'm going to grab both those strands with my bottom three fingers. I'm going to push away from myself on the working yarn. If my pointer finger, I'm going to push towards myself on the tail with my thumb. Then I'm going to angle it so that my palm is up towards the ceiling. And again, I'm still holding onto that slipknot are first cast on stitch with the pointer finger of my right hand. Now to actually work this cast on, what we're gonna do is we're going to move this knitting needle. So the way I move it is first I'm going to go towards myself down in the front of all the strands. Then I'm gonna come up the center of my thumb. So I'm gonna go up in the middle of that loop around my thumb. Going to go back towards my pointer finger. We're gonna go down the center of my pointer finger. So I'm going to grab onto that one loop around my pointer finger. And now I'm going to pull that one strand down the center of my thumb. Now what I do is I release with my thumb and I push back on that tail again with my thumb and you'll see how that loop Titans onto my knitting needle. So to show that again, I'm going to go towards myself, up over the top of all the streams, down the front, up the center of my thumb, back down the center of my pointer finger. Pick up that one strand or on my pointer finger. Then I'm going to take that strand and go down the center of my thumb. Release with my thumb, push back on the tail of my thumb. So that is how the long tail cast on method works. And if you ever lose where you are, you can just drop your strands, regrab onto them with your bottom three fingers. Push away from yourself on your working yarn with your pointer finger. Push towards yourself on your thumb to the tail. Angle your palm up towards the ceiling, and then just begin again. So go towards yourself, down in front of all the strands. Up the center of your thumb, back to your pointer finger, down the center of your pointer finger. Grab on to that strand, pull that strand down through the center of your thumb. Release with your thumb. Push back on the tail of your thumb. And that's all there is to this cast on method. So now I'm going to cast on all 13 stitches. So there's my 13 stitches. Now I'm going to turn my work to work the first row. And here I'm going to Pearl across this first row. So there is the long tail cast on. 7. Cast On Method 4: German Twisted Cast On: The last cats on method I'm going to be showing in this class is that German twisted cast on. And as with the long-tail cast iron, we do have a longer tail because we're going to be casting on with both the working arm and the tail. And the way we set up for this cast on is incredibly similar to the long tail cast time. So I have my slipknot on my knitting needle, magnetic needle point going over towards the left. And I'm going to hold on to that slipknot with a pointer finger of my right finger. Now when I set up to do this cast on method, I'm going to take my left hand and I'm going to put it behind all the strands. So I have my working yarn coming back at a slipknot and my tail coming out the front. So I'm going to devote my left-hand behind both of those strands, and I'm going to grab both strands with my bottom three fingers. Now I want to take my pointer finger and push away from myself. And on that strand, on the working yarn, I'm gonna take my thumb and I'm going to push towards myself on the tail. Now I'm going to angle my palm up towards the ceiling. So you can see palm up towards the ceiling. So this is the top view that you would see. So when I move my hands to do this custom method, first, I'll show it to you one time fast, and then I'm going to break it down. So there's quite a few MOOKS to do better. So to deal with, I'm going to bring the knitting needle towards myself. I'm going to go underneath both of the strands on my thumb. Then I'm going to come up behind my thumb, then down the center of my thumb. So I've just grabbed onto that back loop around my thumb. Now I'm gonna take my knitting needle towards myself than up over the top all the way to the back, down the center, my pointer finger. And now what I wanna do is I want to pull that loop, that's our rate around the living. Will this loop through this other loop that is on my knitting needle? So it can be a bit tricky. And what I like to do is I just angle my hand just a bit. And then you can see I'm going to pull that loop through that little triangle that has formed. Then I release with my thumb and push back on the tail with my thumb. So let's do that a couple more times. So we would take magnetic needle, go up over the top towards myself, over all those thumb strands, down underneath all those thumb strands. Then come back up to the top and down the center of my thumb. Then I'm going to come towards myself all the way up over to the top until I get back down to the center of my pointer finger. And you go down the center of my pointer finger, pick up that front strand on my pointer finger. And then I went to pull that strand through the small triangle that has formed release with my thumb. Push back with my thumb. So maybe go up over all the strands towards myself, down to the bottom, underneath all those thumbs strands. Now I'm going to come back up, down the center of my thumb towards myself again. Over the top of all the strands down the center of my pointer finger. Grab on to that front strand around my pointer finger, and then pull that strand through the small triangle opening. And if you ever lose where your hands are in your yard, you can just release both the strands. But your left hand behind the strands again, grab onto them with your bottom three fingers. Push away from yourself on the working yarn, push towards yourself on the tail, and then just start running again. So now I'm going to continue casting on all the stitches. 8. Project! Cast On and Add a Button Hole: Now the last thing we're gonna do in this course is we're going to create a small project. And what we're gonna do in the project is we're going to combine three different cast on methods. So we're going to start over here with a long tail and the German twisted cast on. So a technique you'll see in some advanced knitting patterns is that the pattern designer will combine these two gasoline methods. And the reason for this is that these two are especially good when working knit and Pearl stitches right next to each other. So things like ribbing. So first if we look at the long tail cast on method, we can see here that because we only have the single loop along the bottom, this looks particularly good when there's knit stitches right above it. Now down here in the German twisted cast-iron, this one has that second bump there right at the top. So this one looks particularly good when there's pearls stitches rate above it. Now, this is just one type of pattern. You'll see where they switch between the two. And of course, I often do just one or just the other. It creates a really similar look. Then once we've worked out a bit into pattern, what we're gonna do is we're gonna go over and we're going to add a button hole. So what's really nice about the backward loop cast on Method is that it works really well when you want to cast on stitches either at the end of a row or in the middle of a row. So in this case, we're going to need to cast on stitches in the middle of a row to create our buttonhole. So let's get started. Now let's start. We need to create a slip knot. And again, for the cast on reusing the long tail and the Germans because they cast on methods. So we do need a bit longer Bataille and we're only casting on 12 stitches total. So again here I probably about 16 inches or so. And to create my slipknot, again, I'm going to put my working yarn further away for me. My tail closest to me, grab onto the stream of my bottom three fingers. Now I'm going to take my working yarn, go up over the top, down to the bottom, towards myself, up to the top again, back behind down to the bottom. Towards myself, up to the top, back bind onto the bottom, grab on to that second strand with my three fingers. So now again we've got 2.5 loops around my pointer finger. And now we're going to rearrange the loops to create our slipknot. So we're gonna take our second loop, move it up over the first loop, so it becomes the new first loop. Take that new second loop again, move it up over that first loop, so it becomes our new first loop. And now we're gonna take our second loop and we're going to slide it up and offer finger. Now we want to put this lip not onto or knitting needle, syringe agar knitting needle point. And we're gonna go from right to left into the slip knot. Pull on our tail to take this look not onto our knitting needle. Now the first gas on method we're going to do is the long tail cast on. So first we're going to cast on total of six stitches using the long tail method. And the slipknot does count as one of those stitches. So do the long tail cast on method again, I'm going to take my left hand behind both strands. Under both strands of my bottom three fingers. Hold on. No, my slipknot with the pointer finger of my right hand. I'm going to push away for myself on the working yarn with my pointer finger. Push towards myself on the tail at my thumb. Angle my palm up towards the ceiling. Now again, we're going to move our knitting needle. So I'm going to go towards myself, up over the top of all the strands, down below, up the center of my thumb. Back to my pointer finger, down the center of my pointer finger to grab onto that one strand around my pointer finger. Now I'm gonna take that back down the center of my thumb. Release with my thumb, push back on the tail with my thumb. Now again, go towards myself, up over all the strands to the friend, down the bottom, up the center of my thumb. Now up over the top of all the strands and delegate to the center of my pointer finger, down the center of my pointer finger, grab on to that one strand, pull that strand on the center of my thumb, release with my thumb, push back on my thumb. And again, this is just a review for a more detailed version. Feel free to check out that module where I show the long tail cast on. But I'm going to cast on six switches. So there are six. Now what I wanna do is I want to switch to the German touristic astatine so you can keep your hands in the same place. So do the German to a Sikh asked on, I'm gonna go towards myself down below all the thumb strands up behind my thumb. Then come down the center of my thumb towards myself down below, then come up to the top, go over the top of all the strands and down the center of my pointer finger. Grab on to that pointer finger strand, then pull that through the triangle that's formed. Release with my thumb. Push back on the tail with my thumb. Again towards myself. Down below in front of all the strands. Behind the thumb strands down the center of my thumb towards myself, then come up over the top of all the strands down the center of my pointer finger, grab on to that pointer finger strand, pull that strand through the triangle that forms. Release with my thumb. Push back on the tail with my thumb. And now I'm going to continue casting on for a total of six digits using this cast on Method. Okay, So here are all my cast on stitches. And you can even see just along this capstone edge the differences between the two. So over here with a long tail cast on methods, we can see we had that single loop along the bottom. And then over here with the German twisted cast on, we can see we have the double loop. So what we're gonna do is we're going to work it. So when we're looking at the front side of our work, we have knit stitches over here where the long tail cast on is. And we have Perl stitches over here where the German twisted cast on is. So first I'm going to turn my work. And now on this side of my work, I'm going to work knit six. Then I'm going to bring my friend and Perl six. Now I'm going to turn my work and I'm going to work that exact same row again, a total of five times. So four more times where I work, knit 6 Perl, six turn my work. So now that I made up in the work, you can really see how nice those casts on methods work when we have knit stitches or hostages about them. So again, over here we have a long tail cast on. And now I'm really just blends really nicely into those knit stitches. And then over here, the German twisted cast-iron, it looks amazing with those problems right above it. So this is just one example. So sometimes in patterns you'll see basically work the long tail cast on for two stitches. German twisted for too long tail for two. German twist it for two, and then they'll have you work ribbing right above that. So that could be something you could see it in more advanced knitting pattern. Next step we're gonna do is we're going to add in the backward loop cast on. So here what we wanna do first is create a button hole in the middle of a row. So how are we going to do that is first we're going to cast off these middle two stitches. Then on the next round we're going to cast back on those two stitches. So first to start, I'm going to knit over five. Now to cast off this next stitch I'm going to do that is I'm going to knit the first stitch, knit the next stitch. Now I'm gonna take my left knitting needle point and go into the base of that second stitching. So the one I'm trying to cast off right now, we're gonna go into the base of that stitch from left to right. And now I'm going to take that stitch and go up over and off on the knitting needle. So basically what I did is I slid that previous stitch up over an on to this other stitch. So we just cast that one off. Now for the next stitch, I need to also cast off this one. So I'm going to knit one more stitch. Now I'm going to take my previous stitch, take my left knitting needle point, go into the base of that stitch from left to right. Now I'm going to pass that stitch up over and off again. Snipe cast off a second stitch. Now I'm going to bring my yarn to the front and continue curling across the rest of this row. Now I'm going to turn my work. And you can see here we have a hole that's formed. So now we need to close that hole again. And we're going to close that hole by using the backward loop cast on to cast on those two stitches. So first I'm going to knit over 5. And now I need to work the backward loop cast on. So I'm going to let go of my left knitting needle. And now I need to use this left-hand actually cast on stitches. So I'm going to set my yarn up so I might work closest to me. My working yarn is further away. And I'm going to put my left hand behind that working yarn, grab onto it my bottom three fingers. Now I'm gonna take my pointer finger and I'm going to go underneath that strand towards myself. Then up the front of the top. Back behind at the bottom. Towards myself, up the front to the top. So now I have 1.5 loops around my finger. Now I'm going to take my right knitting needle point, go from the bottom to the top, signing up my pointer finger, side that loop off my pointer finger and on to the right knitting needle. Then gently pull on it too tight knit on there. You don't want it to take because they can become really hard to Nick if you make them too tight. Now again, you don't even have to let go of the strand over here with your left hand. You can just loop your finger again. So back behind to the bottom, towards yourself, up the front to the top, back behind down to the bottom again, towards yourself, up to the top. And now again we want to slide that loop going from underneath up the center of your index finger off on your right knitting needle. So now we've just cast on those two stitches. Now I'm going to bring my work to the friend and continue purlin across the rest of this row. Now when I turn my work again, I can just continue working rate in patterns. So I'm going to knit six then Perl six. Now I'm going to continue working my pattern for a couple more rows just to make this a little square. So let's say about four more rows of net 6 Perl six. Okay, so now I can see my mole right there in the center of my work. And now what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna go right across this top edge and cast-off each one of the stitches. The way a cast off the top edge is the same way I cast it off in the center of the button hole. I'm going to knit the first stitch. Knit one more stitch. Now we're going to pass my previous stitch up over and off. Now again, I'm going to knit one more stitch, pass my previous stitch up over and off. Knit another stitch. Previous one up over and off, all the way across this top edge. And in the perl section, if you want to, you can switch to purlin instead. And now when I only have that one loop left, I just gently tug on it so it becomes a little bit larger. Cut my yarn, weaving again about an eight inch tail, and then thread that tail through that loop. So now we've created a small button hole and we've combined the long tail cast on and the German twist kick ass time. So I hope you enjoyed this small project. 9. Bonus! Does the Cast On Count as the First Row?: So one commonly asked question is, does the cast on row count as your first row of knitting? And this is actually a fairly complicated answer. And the answer is that it depends on what casts on method you use. So if you use the backward loop cast on or the NIC cast on, the answer is no. The cast on row does not count as your first row of your work. So typically in these two methods, you'll see you cast on and then you knit across the first row. Now over here with the long tail cast on and the German twisted cast-iron. In these two cases, the first cat or the cast on row, does count as your first row of knitting. And one way you can remember this is, is the castle methods where you carry the tail across and you cast on with the tail as well as the working yarn. In those cases, that first cast on row is your first row of work. So in these two cases, typically you'll see you cast on and then you work a pearl row instead. So the reason I decided to Pearl every row after I cast on is just to keep basically all the samples exactly the same. I didn't want to modify one and not modify the others. But essentially what it comes down to is if you worked at backward loop or the NIC cast on. And these are both cost on methods where you don't carry the tail across as you're casting on her short tail cast on methods. In these two cases, your casts on method does not count as your first row of knitting. Now over here on the other hand side, if you use the long tail or the German twisted. And these are both cases where you're going to carry the tail across and use the tail a cast on or long-tail cast on methods. In these two cases, the cast on row does count as your first row of knitting. So over here on the left-hand side, typically you work a nitro as your first row after the cast iron. Over here on the right-hand side, typically you would work a program as your first row after this cost on.