Step-by-step Guide to Judy's Magic Cast-on

Here's our expert guide to Judy's Magic Cast-on.

For this technique you will need a circular needle, long enough for magic loop.

Step 1: With needle tips of a circular needle in your right hand, make a slip knot and place it on the upper needle.

Make sure you leave a long tail. Hold the tail and the ball end of the yarn in your left hand as shown.

Step 2: Bring lower yarn over lower needle and under upper needle.

Step 3: Bring upper yarn over upper needle and under lower needle.

Yarns have now swapped place.

Step 4: Repeat steps 2-3 until you have the desired number of stitches on your needles.

You must have the same number of stitches on the upper and lower needles. This example shows 5 sts on each needle - 10 in total.

Step 5: Hold the stitches firmly in your right hand, and with your left hand, pull out the bottom needle.

Step 6: Move the needle with the stitches on it into your left hand as shown. Hold the empty needle in your right hand.

Step 7: Knit all of the stitches from the left-hand needle onto the right-hand needle.

Step 8: When all stitches have been worked, it will look like this.

Step 9: Swap the work into your left hand as shown above, with the stitches you've just work sitting at the bottom.

Step 10: Push the empty (now top) needle back into the work so that all stitches now sit on the needles.

Step 11: Pull out the bottom needle and use this to knit the stitches off the back needle.

Step 12: All stitches have now been cast on and 1 rnd has been worked. Continue to work according to your pattern.

If you're inspired to get knitting, why not try one of these fantastic toe-up sock patterns from Knit Now?