Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Provisional Cast On for Mermaid

Hello to all!

I am preparing to start Mermaid, and would like to know which Provisional Cast On was successful for the front edge? At times I've used the crochet cast on, then knit into the crochet chain, but the stitches are very tight, besides there being one stitch less. The crochet cast on doesn't seem right for the front edge of Mermaid. What has worked for others?

I haven't had many chances to practice Provisional Cast Ons and tried to avoid them in the the past. Which cast ons were used for the completed Mermaids? Any and all tips are appreciated :)

Thanks to everyone [especially amy! for the spreadsheet].

Jules.

ps, knitting stripe 27 on Diva has eluded me, I am on stripe 25, hopefully by tonight I'll be finishing the big triangle. I'm a knitting fool.

8 comments:

fiberfanatic said...

I did a huge (50 chains larger than the needed cast-on) crochet chain, using a finer yarn than my Mermaid yarn, and a crochet hook several sizes larger than my knitting needle. That allowed some "give" to the stitches, and I had exactly the number of stitches I needed to knit.

Meredith said...

I used this one:

http://www.knittingatknoon.com/provisional.html

Worked great for me!

amy! said...

I did a cable or knitted cast-on with a cotton yarn and then I also knit a row with it. Made it easy to see which yarn I needed to remove at the end.

Anonymous said...

I also did the crochet chain method. I used a smooth, contrasting yarn a tad thicker than the Mermaid yarn, and a crochet hook a couple of sizes bigger than my needles. Like fiberfanatic, I cast on way more stitches than I needed. I tied a knot in the unzipping end, so I'd remember which one it was and just picked up my stitches, one in each back-ridge of the chain. It was just perfect.

Deah said...

I used the invisible provisional cast-on described in the glossary of Ann Budd's Book of Patterns. I used thicker yarn, i.e.worsted, in a contrasting color. I cast-on over two needles to keep the tension loose.

ChiaLea said...

I used the crochet cast-on with some leftover Lorna's Laces sock yarn and a larger crochet hook than you'd usually use for it. Worked fine for me... good luck!

Petunia Honeysuckle said...

Wow, THANKS!! You guys are TOTALLY AWESOME. I have a nice slippery worsted wt scrap yarn in white poly cotton :) Glad to hear that so many different variations all work great!

IsabelG said...

I made the cord with a 'French knitting bee' (exactly this model: http://www.sewessential.co.uk/Category.asp?CategoryID=608) and then picked up the stitches with the circular needle.

The cord stitches are as loose as if they had been made with a 4 or 4.5 mm needle.

I am so pleased with the result that I am thinking of following the same method for the other end of the jacket, i.e.: making a cord, picking up stitches, knitting some rows and then grafting this bit into the almost completed jacket.