Crochet Cast On

This is the first of two posts on the Aeolian top pattern highlighting techniques you may not have used before.  Our Aeolian top is ideal when summer days are not as warm as they should be, it’s also easy to throw on in the evenings as the weather cools.  Aeolian is knit in Ainsworth & Prin Merino and Silk Single, a luxurious yarn hand dyed by us in small batches.  It is incredibly soft with a light lustre, feels smooth and cool agains the skin, but at the same time gives some warmth.

Aeolian is worn with plenty of positive ease.

For a Crochet Cast-On you will need a needle of the correct gauge for the pattern and a crochet hook of the same, or similar size.  It’s a little slippy to start off with so try and pin down the slip knot and yarn end with thumb and fingers for the first few stitches.  Use what ever combination of fingers and thumb feel most comfortable to you.

I use a circular needle but if you are used to using a long needles try those.

Start with a slip knot on your crochet hook, leaving enough yarn in the tail end to sew in when you have finished the piece.

Secure the slip knot and tail end while you position the crochet hook on top of the hook and the needle over the yarn.

I transfer the slip knot and tail end to my left hand then hook the yarn over the knitting needle.

Pull the yarn loop through the slip knot.  This makes the first stitch over the needle.

Twist the knitting needle so that it lies above the working yarn ready to make the next stitch. Start again from the first step and hook the yarn over the needle.  Continue until you are one short of your required number of stitches.  The final stitch is the one remaining on the crochet hook, just loop it over the point of the knitting needle.

That’s it!  It may feel as if it’s getting away from you at first but you will quickly get in to a rhythm.