Uploaded July 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago

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When you do the Chinese Waitress Cast-On Continental-style, the stitches can tend to slip off your needles. Here's how to stabilize your stitches so that you can do the Chinese Waitress Cast-On without having to tension the yarn in your right hand.

To do the Chinese Waitress Cast-On Continental-style:
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 left hand, behind both needles.
4. Bring the yarn down and behind both needles, then 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 down and behind both needles, then 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 learn:
- 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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