Tubular Cast On How-to, plus Fun Cooking Videos

DD and I found this fellow Nicko and his YouTube cooking videos this week, and have been enjoying watching them.  I used to live where folks spoke with an accent similar to the host’s, so that aspect is fun for me as well.  I’m planning to make something just a BIT like this tonight — using commercial bratwurst “mince” as filling.

My camera has been lost since 25 March (!!), so I haven’t been able to take photos to share for a while.  I could talk about some slightly older stuff. . . .

Here are steps for one way to work a tubular cast-on.

Crocheting stitches over knitting needle with smooth scrap yarn

Begin with a provisional (i.e. temporary, removable) cast on.  I favor ones that use a crochet hook.  Here, I’m crocheting loops over a knitting needle with smooth scrap yarn, unto half my desired total number of stitches (12, to end with 24).

Then, with project yarn, work 4 rows of stockinette, beginning with a knit row (this is different from what Montse Stanley says in her reference book, Reader’s Digest Knitter’s Handbook).   I like to work a few plain chains after all my over-the-knitting-needle loops are done.  Pull the far end of your scrap yarn through the last chain to “finish off”; perhaps tie a small knot in the end, to distinguish it from the beginning end.  (This will matter later!)

Now join the bottom and top edges of this short piece of knitting into a long, shallow tube (hence the “tubular” name) as follows.

Knitting and purling from alternate ends of piece

Knit 1 stitch from knitting needle.

Purl 1 st from CO edge.  (See the loop of project yarn peeking out from between loops of scrap yarn?  That’s what you purl into.)

Continue across. alternating a knit from the needle with a purl from the CO.

The final loop to purl is hard to see — fiddle until you find it, so that you’ll end with an even number of total stitches.

Final gray loop in CO edge

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Continue in 1×1 ribbing, knitting the knits and purling the purls as established.  After a few rows, you’re piece looks like this.

A few rows of ribbing above CO

(You may notice that my crochet chain has some extra links in it.  Because my scrap yarn was considerably smaller-gauge than my project yarn — the largest I had in cotton — I worked a plain chain after each over-the-needle stitch to give extra stretch.)

You may remove the provisional cast-on now.

Removing provisional cast-on

Pull the knotted end of the scrap yarn back through the last crocheted chain to free it up, then gently pull the strand, popping each chain one at a time, undoing your provisional CO.

This is amazing to watch — so clever!

Chains all unpopped.

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Pull strand entirely free from your knitting.

Done!

Tubular Cast On complete!