Circular Cast-On (Below) Keeping up the Tension Weave Ends as You Go


Here is a tutorial on the Fran Marrs' circular cast-on. And, as an added bonus, I will show you the only way of doing a slip knot I've ever understood. I'm almost embarassed at how long it took me to learn to do one of these!

So, first the slip knot. I realise not everyone is right handed, so I'll label the hands D for dominant and N for non-dominant.

1. You start by grabbing the tail end of the yarn in your D hand and wrapping it around the first two fingers of your N hand.

2. Then, you wrap it around again, with the second wrap being behind (closer to the palm) the first wrap.

3. Now, you take your needle and put it btwn the two loops, grabbing the second one and pulling it through the first.

4. Taaa daaa. You have a slip knot, with the adjusting strand being the tail. In other words, if you want to tighten it, you pull on the tail.



OK, now we can do the actual cast-on. You have a slip knot on your needle, with the strand that goes to the ball of yarn being the stationary or non-adjusting one. You need to know this for the next step.


  • With the stationary strand closest to you, put your D needle into the slip knot and make a knit st. So far, it is exactly like a knit or cable cast-on. Do not transfer this st. back to the N hand needle. You will be accumulating your sts. on the D hand needle.

    • 2. Do a yarn over.

    3. Now, do another knit st. You should have 3 sts. on your needle.

    4. Repeat the last two steps until you have 7 sts. on the needle.

    5. Circle cast-ons usually have 8 sts. Since you can't do another yo if you aren't making another st. to anchor it, the eighth st. needs to be made another way. It's a purl st.

    6. All eight sts. should be on one needle, with the loop created by the slip knot on the other. We don't need the loop anymore, so take the needle out, pull on the tail, and watch it disappear!

    You're ready to begin knitting.

    And, here is what the finished product looks like.
     As you can see, the hole disappears completely, without any bulkiness.
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