Uploaded July 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago

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Most tutorials teach the Chinese Waitress Cast-On wrong. This officially sanctioned video shows the correct technique so you can create a beautiful, reversible, stretchy cast-on.

To do the Chinese Waitress Cast-On:
1. Place a slipknot on the left-hand needle. Leave a short tail (6"). The slipknot does not count as a cast-on stitch and will be removed later.
2. Cross the right-hand needle behind the left-hand needle, to the right of the slipknot.
3. Tension the yarn in your right hand.
4. Bring the yarn up and over the left-hand needle, then around the back of the right-hand needle in a figure-8 motion.
5. Pull the stitch on the right-hand needle through the two loops on the left-hand needle.
6. Remove the right-hand needle from the stitch.
7. **IMPORTANT** With your fingers, un-twist the stitch towards you so that the right side of the loop is the one coming from the working yarn.
8. Re-insert the right needle into the stitch from front to back, crossing it behind the left-hand needle.
9. Bring the yarn up and over the left-hand needle, then around the back of the right-hand needle in a figure-8 motion (this is the same as step 4).
10. Pull the stitch you just made between the two loops on the left-hand needle and, in the same movement, through the stitch already on the right-hand needle.
11. Repeat steps 6-10 until you have cast on one less than the number of stitches required for your project, not counting the slipknot.
12. Slip the stitch that is on the right-hand needle to the left-hand needle (the left needle should go in front-to-back). This is your last cast-on stitch.
13. You have completed the cast-on. When you knit the first row and come to the slipknot, remove it from the left-hand needle and give the tail yarn a tug. The slipknot will undo.

To understand:
- Why it's so important to do the Chinese Waitress Cast-On correctly,
- What most tutorials get wrong about the Chinese Waitress Cast-On,
- Tips and tricks for using this cast-on in different situations, and
- the matching Chinese Waitress Bind-Off, go to knitfreedom.com/blog/chinese-waitress

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