How to Knit a STRETCHY CAST ON (aka. German Twist Cast On)/wool products

Hey guys, today I'm going to show you how to cast on with the Stretchy Cast On. That's coming up. So the Long Tail Cast On is pretty stretchy, but I've got something even stretchier for you. So this cast on is called the German Twist Cast On, and it's really stretchy. It's very similar to the Long Tail Cast On, so if you know how to long tail, then this guy is not going to be too hard at all. There's a lot of similarities. So this stretchy cast on looks a little bit different from the long tail. It's got kind of a pearl ridge on it, so it's not quite as clean looking as the long tail, but I find it kind of subtle. I don't really mind it. But if you're really concerned about how the edge of your knitting looks, then just keep that in mind. Alright, enough talking from me. Let's get into it. So this stretchy cast on starts with the long tail, so let's get our yarn out. We need a long tail in order to cast on all of our stitches. If you're not sure how much yarn you need, you can use that little hack where you take your yarn and wrap it around your needle the number of times of stitches that you need. So if I need 84 stitches, I'm going to wrap my yarn around 84 times, and however long that length of yarn is, is going to be enough yarn to cast on 84 stitches. So again, if you're not familiar with this technique, you should probably watch the long tail cast on video first. Okay, so I've got my length of yarn, my long tail, and I'm just going to make a slipknot. So just a regular old slipknot. Here we go. So I'm going to put the slipknot onto my needle, and then just tighten that puppy up. Alright, great. So now my long tail is in the front of my work, and the yarn attached to my ball right here is in the back. Alright, so let's start casting on. So I'm going to hold my yarn the same way that I do when I'm doing a long tail cast on. So I'm going to use my two fingers and push them between these two yarn strands like this, and make kind of a diamond shape. So same beginning as the long tail cast on. I'm just going to take my finger here, put it down on my slipknot because I don't want it to slide around like this. Not a slip and slide. Alright, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to take my needle and go underneath these two strands of yarn that's on my thumb. So I'm just going to go like this. Then I'm going to take my needle and go into the loop that my thumb has made. So I'm going to go into that loop. Then I'm going to twist my hand around so that my hand is sort of facing the left side, and now you can see there's kind of a loop around this finger, right? There's a little slingshot that my yarn has made, and I'm going to go into that loop. I'm going to turn my hand to help it along, and now this is a little bit tricky, but just watch closely. You can see there's a little strand here on my needle, just intersecting my needle, and I'm going to pull my needle into that strand. Now there's one extra strand on my needle, and that is my new stitch. I'm going to drop everything, just let go of everything, and then pull down. Pull down on the front yarn and on the back yarn and just tighten it up like this, and now you can see that I've just cast on one stitch. So that was kind of freaky and weird, so we're going to go through this a couple times, so don't worry about it. So let's try that again. I'm going to take my thumb and my forefinger, I'm not even sure, this finger right here, go through the two strands of yarn, kind of hold it like a diamond shape, then I'm going to take my needle, go underneath the two strands, and then I'm going to go into the loop on my thumb, just like this. I'm going to turn my hand around, go through the loop on this finger, so here you can see there's a loop, and then I'm going to pull through this loop here, just like that, and now you can see there's another strand of yarn on my needle, and I'm going to pull down and tighten everything up. So now I've got three cast on stitches. So we just kind of keep going like that. So we're going to make a diamond shape with our two strands of yarn, I'm going to go underneath the two loops on my thumb, go into the loop that my thumb has made, turn my hand over, go into the loop on this finger, here we go, and then now I'm going to pick out that loop on my needle. So here we go. And pull down. So if this is freaking you out, just take a deep breath, maybe have a sip of tea, and watch this video closely, and try it out with your own yarn and needles. It'll probably take you a couple times to really get it, and that's totally normal. I've never actually met anyone who picked this up immediately. If you can, then you're some kind of magical wizard, and please share your dark secrets with me. But it does take some practice and patience to get the hang of it, so just keep at it. And I'll show this to you one more time. So I'm going to make a diamond shape with my two strands of yarn, I'm going to take my needle and go underneath the two strands of yarn on my thumb, and I'm going to go into this loop that my thumb has made, I'm going to turn my hand and go into the loop on my second finger, and now you can see there's a strand of yarn that has emerged on my needle. I'm going to bring my needle through that tiny loop, and pick out that strand of yarn, pull down. Cool. So this definitely takes some practice, but you know what they say, practice makes perfect. So give it a go, and once you've cast on the stitches you need, then you can start knitting. So that's the stretchy cast on, also known as the German twist cast on. So I hope that wasn't too bad for you. I know it's a little bit finicky with the hand gymnastics and everything, but I think with some practice, you'll be able to get it. And the more you practice, the more your hands will become accustomed to moving in that way, and it'll develop its own muscle memory. So keep at it, I'm sure you'll be able to get it, and once you do, you'll have a new stretchy cast on that you can add to your collection of knitting skills. Thanks so much for watching, guys, I hope you liked this video, and if you did, then give it a big thumbs up, and if you loved this video, consider subscribing. And you know what, if you didn't like this video, let me know what you didn't like about it down in the comments. I'm always looking to improve these videos for you guys, so any constructive criticism is welcome. Just, you know, don't be too mean down there, okay, don't be too mean to me. Okay, I'm Davina from sheepandstitch.com, thanks so much for watching, keep your edges stretchy, and I'll see you next time. Bye!