Cast On Spacing

 

A favorite cast on of many knitters is the Long Tail Cast On but many people have problems keeping this cast on from being too tight.  This is caused when you get the stitches too close together in the casting on process. The normal inclination is to push each stitch against the last one as you proceed. This will result in an inflexible cast on that is usually too small for the rest of the piece. To correct this, simply space your stitches out a bit. You should have as much space between each stitch as the yarn is wide.

In this photo, you see the correct spacing of stitches on the needle. I even carried the yarn tail to the top so you can see that the stitches are spaced a yarn-width apart.

In the second photo, you see stitches that are crowded together. On the right end of the needle there are some stitches that are properly spaced for comparison.