Q&A for How to Cast Off

You can check the label on the yarn. It will tell you the length and weight of the skein. It will also let you know the material of the knitting yarn and suggest needle sizes.

After knitting, you should soak or steam the item and let it dry to even out the stitches. It is known as blocking. Besides this, when you sew the pieces, your sewing should match the tension of the knitted pieces.

Practice. Just keep practicing by knitting plenty of things and you'll soon get the knack of it. Soon doing it will be second nature.

Knit the first 2 stitches, then take the first one (on the right) and pull it back over the second one (on the left). You can do this either with a needle or your fingers. Next, purl 1 stitch and pull the remaining knit stitch over that one. Then purl another stitch, pull the first purl stitch over, etc. Repeat this until the end of the row, where you can pull the end of the yarn through the last loop.

No. As long as you follow these instructions and pull the yarn through at the end, it will not unravel.

There are a lot of really cool stitches that you can do with only knit and purl. Try seed stitch or basketweave stitch, or rib stitch. They are all easy and will look great on a scarf.

Use needles that are a size or two larger than the ones for the rest of your project.

Let's say you have 10 stitches and want to cast off. Knit two stitches and pull the bottom one over the top of the needle, as if you are pulling a stitch over the needle. Knit another stitch and repeat.

Untangle it every row, and keep a shorter tail to prevent it getting too messy.

You do.

Try blocking it - pinning it flat on a table, spritzing it with water, then letting it dry in that position.

On the last stitch, do a yarn over and cut off the excess yarn. Now, loop the yarn tail through the open stitch and pull.

No. You can use a standard cast off or the stretchy cast off.

It's easy: Just pull the bottom one over the top. You will have one stitch left; just cut off the end of the yarn and pull the end through the remaining loop. Trim it or weave in the ends and you're done!

The same as with normal yarn. You may just have to use your fingers a bit more to pull the pom poms through the loops.

Instead of knitting, just slip the stitches onto your right needle and cast off normally.

Increase by two. You must have accidentally picked up an old stitch, making it 22.

This refers to instructions over multiple rows. On the first row, cast off two stitches, then work the rest of your stitches as directed in the pattern. After working a wrong side row, you will be back where you started. Work the next row identically to the first cast-off row. After another wrong side row, cast off one stitch and then work the rest of your stitches, and your arm hole decreases are done.

Yes, it will be about half the height of a normal row, depending the thickness of the yarn you're using.

The first two stitches are the top two loops on the left needle. When you're knitting, you should always start with the top loop on the left needle and work your way down until there are no more loops, and then switch your needles making the right needle your left needle and the left needle your right needle and repeat from the beginning.

Follow the pattern to see if it tells you what to do with this stitch. If it is the only stitch left, then you can cut the yarn and tie it off to secure it.

Yes, follow these instructions, but purl when they tell you to knit. All else is the same.

Cast off 4 stitches, then take off your knitting, turn it around and reattach it. Then carefully cast off 4 stitches.

Make a slip knot and wrap it around the needle. Go about it like you are knitting the stitch, but then loop the stitch back over the needle. Make as many stitches as you want, and then continue knitting.

Yes, slip one, knit one and pass the slipped stitch over. This decreases the amount of stitches by one. Do this twice a row in the beginning and the end until you have reached your desired amount of stitches.

That sounds like a problem with yarn tension. Switch to smaller needles for the cast off, or hold the working yarn more tautly.