Alrighty, back to the hat we were swatching for the other week. The yarn is all wound up and cast on (and yes, yes that branch DOES look rather like a turtle/dinosaur having a chomp on the yarn, you’re totally right).

As usual, I used a long tailed cast on and cast on over two needles.

Someone somewhere is clutching their pearls and is about to send me a note telling me casting on over two needles is a scandal and doesn’t really make your cast on stretchier.

Which I know!

Casting on over two needles doesn’t make your cast on stretchier at all! But what it does do, at least if you’re me, is make that first row of stitches the same size as the rest of your stitches.

Because you see, when you’re working a long tailed cast on, you’re actually making your first row of stitches at the same time as you’re getting the loops on the needles. And if you’re like me (loose knitter, tight cast-er on-er (cast oner? none of that sounds right)), then sometimes the row of stitches you create while casting on might be all tight and squinchy compared to the following rows. And casting on over two needles (or over one bigger needle if you have it handy, but I never do) fixes that.

So it’s how I do it. It works for me. It works for lots of other folks! But it really really really twists the knickers of a certain subset of folks, so I like to mention it real big and loud right up front. And this way, if someone starts getting pearl clutchy or knickers twisty about it around you, you can smile and tell them you’ve got it under control.

If you want your cast on stretchier, either use a different cast on or leave more space /between/ each stitch of your cast on.

Now…now we see whether the speckles are enough to stave off the January gloom!