German Twisted Cast on/Cast off

I'm giving a little 'how to' at our Knitting Guild meeting tonight so I thought I'd post it here too.
It's hard to learn a cast on with out watching someone do it, so if you are interested follow the Youtube link to see my favourite demo.
German Twisted Cast On
Sometimes referred to as Old Norwegian cast on

Why use the GT cast on?
It’s a very stretchy cast on – good for top down socks, or anywhere a stretchy cast on is needed.
It’s an aesthetically pleasing cast on.

How do you do it?–
The GT cast on is a long tail method and starts with the familiar ‘slingshot’ of the long tail cast on.
It uses more yarn than the long tail so you need to take this into account for the tail.
The GT cast on is a long tail cast on with an extra twist added.

• Form slingshot with the yarn, thumb and index finger. With the tip of the needle go under thumb loop and bring needle tip up to the middle of the ‘V’

• Put the tip of the needle at the top of your thumb and run the needle down through the loop that is formed around your thumb. As the needle passes by the yarn (around the level of your joint crease) drop your thumb so it is sitting on the first joint of your middle finger (it is easier at this point to be holding the stitches on the needle with your right hand). Your thumb should now be securing a loop that is hanging upside down from the needle with one strand still over your index finger.

• Hook the yarn on your index finger bring it back through the loop you’ve formed, releasing your thumb from your index finger and gently pull the yarn to get the cast on stitch tensioned onto the needle.

This method takes some practise, there are other ways of executing and if this way isn’t working for you I’d advise hunting down a variation on the execution.
By using www.youtube.com and adding “German Twisted Cast On” to the search box you can find several versions of this cast on, one of which might make more sense to you. Lucy Neatby does a fantastic job and has influenced my information here as I learnt by watching her video.



German Twisted Cast Off

1)Pass sewing needle knitwise through the first stitch and remove from knitting needle; pass sewing needle purlwise through the next stitch and leave on needle.
2) Pull excess yarn through until almost snug; before loop of excess yarn closes, pass needle from front to back through closing loop.
Repeat steps 1 and 2 across.