Cast On, Bind Off (34 page)
Authors: Leslie Ann Bestor
Hold yarn A (teal) over the thumb, yarn B (aqua) over the finger as for the Two-Color Braided Cast On; let yarn C (light green) hang down and out of the way.
Make a stitch as in Long-Tail Cast On (
page 25
), pull to snug the stitch on the needle as usual, but leave it on the loose side so the cast on does not become too tight.
Rotate yarns: Drop yarn B (aqua) to the back, move yarn A (teal) to the finger, and bring yarn C (light green) to the thumb.
Make another stitch.
Rotate yarns: Drop yarn on finger, move thumb yarn to finger, and move yarn that has been dangling (not used in last stitch) to the thumb.
Continue in this manner, making stitches and rotating yarns, until you have the desired number of stitches. You will see that the yarns are rotating clockwise.
Swatch
This sample of tricolor linen stitch shows the particular importance of swatching in multicolor knitting. All swatches in this book have been cast on and knitted with size 8 needles. For this one, though, I had to switch to a
size 4
needle for the casting on, because the many slipped stitches of linen stitch make for such a tight fabric. And still that lovely cast-on edge looks a bit larger than the body of the knitted fabric.
This unique cast on
also can be done with two or three colors, creating a striking edge for colorwork garments. Worked in two colors, the edge is a decorative contrast to the knitted garment and creates an interesting braided effect. With three colors, you get the contrasting edge and alternating colors in the first row, making it the perfect setup for corrugated, or two-color, ribbing. In structure, the cast on is like the Old Norwegian Cast On (
page 41
), but using multiple colors of yarn. It differs from the other multicolor cast ons in that the thumb yarn remains the same throughout, forming the single-color contrast edge.
