Are you a crocheter who has always wanted to learn to knit? You are in the right place! Start here with the crochet cast on and learn to knit.
I’ll admit it. I was a knitter before I learned to crochet, but knitting always felt a bit awkward to me.
Crochet came naturally and was so much faster that I pretty much quit knitting for years, only picking up the needles every once in a while.
That is, until I realized that the main reason I struggled with knitting was because I had learned the English (aka “throw”) method, which is where you hold the yarn in your right hand and “throw” it when you yarn over.
I had always wanted to try continental and when I combined my ease of holding the yarn for crochet and using my hook to help get the hang of it – my knitting speed greatly increased, as did my enjoyment of the craft!
While I still prefer to crochet, I just love the look of knitting. Take a look at some of the patterns over at Vogue Knitting and you’ll be dying to pick up some needles.
So, if you are here looking for help with the knitting world as a crocheter, you’ve come to the right place!!
How to Knit with a Crochet Hook
Can you really do that?? When starting out as a newbie knitter who crochets, you can (to a certain point).
A crochet hook is not going to hold all of your stitches the way a knitting needle does, although I guess you could try it with a long afghan crochet hook, but eventually you will be better off transferring the skills you’ll learn to needles.
It still may seem easier to you to cast on with a hook, and by all means, do it! We will work the basics with hook in hand so that it seems more familiar to you.
Tips for Working the Crochet Cast On
If you need the end to be stretchy, such as the top of a sock, choose a hook that is a size or two larger than your knitting needle. This will give you a nice clean cast on that has good tension (not too loose nor too tight).
Otherwise, you can choose a hook that is suitable for the size of the yarn you are using.
Crochet Cast on for Knitting
Step One: Make a slip knot on your crochet hook and hold the knitting needle in the opposite hand in front of the yarn.
Step Two: Wrap yarn around both the needle and the hook.
Step Three: Pull the yarn through the loop on your hook. One cast on stitch on your knitting needle.
Repeat steps two and three until there are as many cast on stitches as you need – minus one!
For the last stitch:
Step Four: Pull the loop on your hook very loose.
Step Five: Place the loose loop over the knitting needle.
Step Six: Pull the loop gently to match the tension of the rest of the stitches.
Provisional Crochet Cast On for Knitting
With a provisional cast on, you will be working with waste yarn that you will take out at some point in your project.
Chaining before and after the cast on will allow for easier removal of the waste yarn.
Step One: Make a slip knot and chain a few stitches.
Step Two: Work the crochet cast on the same way, wrapping the yarn around both the needle and the hook.
Step Three: Cast on as many stitches as called for in the pattern (not one less as seen above).
Step Four: Chain a few stitches to make removal easier.
Crochet Cast On Knitting in the Round
When you are working in the round you will cast on the same way as you do on straight needles, it may just mean moving the stitches to different double pointed needles or pushing them down a circular needle.
Video Tutorial
