Garter Tab Cast On

The Garter Tab Cast On is often used in crescent shawls and other shapes that begin with a small number of stitches and grows outward as the pattern is worked.

You begin with a small number of stitches, knit a few rows, and then pick up stitches so that you have live stitches on all but one long edge of your garter stitch tab. The pattern will tell you how many stitches to cast on, rows to knit, and stitches to pick up. Some patterns have special instructions, for instance to imitate the border of eyelets along the edge of a crescent shawl (e.g. using this method).

The following video demonstrates the basic Garter Tab Cast On technique:

Brigit Hampel (enablerqueen on Ravelry) came up with the following improvement to her Garter Stitch Cast On when the pattern calls for just two stitches:

“I had troubles with the first section as the rows of just 2 stitches kept twisting and it was hard to read which side I was on. I eventually cast on 4 stitches with waste yarn and knit several rows so I would have something a little more substantial to hold on to. I then did a ssk and then a k2tog so I would have just 2 stitches. I knit one more row in waste yarn and then switched to my MC. Now I could easily see my rows as I knit, and holding on to the waste yarn tab helped me to keep my 2-stitch rows from twisting. I was able to pick up my stitches to complete my garter tab and then just remove the waste yarn.”

Thanks, Brigit!

There is also a version using Judy’s Magic Cast-On, which is demonstrated in the following video: