I pretty much exclusively use longtail cast on. It has The Perfect Start when not resorting to a slip knot[1], it's extremely swift with just a little practice, and when tensioned correctly, it's reasonably stretchy. Tensioning correctly is all about how far apart the stitches are formed on the needle--using two needles only forms the first row too large, not the part that actually matters for stretch or even aesthetic considerations: it's all about those half hitches underneath. Using it I can make great mitts and socks and hats and anything that needs a good amount of stretch--I've even started very airy lace with it. I can't do my wife's socks with it, though. Her instep depth makes a sock need a lot of stretch to get over the heel, and increasing the size of the ribbing and decreasing after would make that section too loose when worn.
I have made her a decent number of workable socks, but I don't want workable, I want glory! On a few pairs I've ended up cutting out the ribbing and working it up from the foot[2] so I can cast off using JSSBO, then doing a provisional caston on the second sock to allow for working both directions more easily. This works, but is not exactly the nicest way to make a sock--mentally stimulating for sure, but half the joy of a sock is working it with only a quarter of your attention.
So I need a new caston. A stretchy one to rival JSSBO. As much as I adore The Principles of Knitting, Hiatt does not spend as much time going over the merits of cast ons, being far more interested in the how (or I missed it this perusal; I was short of time that day), so I trawled the internet a bit. I found lots of suggestions to use German twisted (aka old Norwegian), a small number talking about Jeny's slip knot cast on, and not much else.
As much as I love Jeny's bind off, I didn't even attempt Jeny's slipknot cast on. The name made me suspect (see footnote 1) and looking at it too I just can't see it nicely returning after expansion, and looking at working it, I thought it highly susceptible to poorly metered out runner between stitches. Maybe I wrote it off too soon but. It's not what I wanted.
German twist is laughably not it, and most of why I started this post: I want to be grumpy about it, lol. German twisted is a longtail variant that introduces a twist to the half hitch cursive 'e's that run below the first row. It's like doing the backwards loop caston with left leaning loops instead of right leaning loops.[3] The argument, then, is that this introduces extra yarn down where it is needed and extra yarn means more stretch. I argue: that's the same fallacy that leads people to say twisted rib is stretchier when it is demonstrably the opposite. In this case, any perceived gain is due to the extra motion and friction making it easier to space out each stitch. As I mentioned above, spacing out the stitches correctly is what gains long tail stretch. The problem here is as soon as a yarn is even moderately "sticky"[4], those closed loops are locking in, limiting the work's ability to expand outward, and, if stretched to the point of overcoming the stick and pulling out, are then locked into that stretched state. I'm a little mad I even gave it enough benefit of the doubt to try it (esp considering I didn't try Jeny's!).
It being out, I tried cable's gentler sibling knit cast on, which. was fine but it's not the nicest to edge and I wasn't convinced it was going to give me any more reach than Good longtail. Finally, I resorted to something I hate in the name of pursuing Glorious Ribbing: I watched a youtube tutorial. I hate youtube knitting tutorials. They're horrendously inefficient, rarely show the process in its flow state, and always always always have too much preamble. I just want to read the instructions! Look at a picture for as long as I need! Compare to what's in hand! The issue then is the cast on--Tillybuddy's--really only has several YT videos and one photo article that I could find. The photo article was not formatted for a phone and was behaving oddly. what finally broke me down to do the YT was when I saw that Tillybuddy herself had two: the Long Version and the short one.
The short one is actually short! It has minimal preamble! It shows how to start, how to do, and how the flowstate looks! Good job Tillybuddy, you know what's up. Also: your cast on is a work of art. I ended up checking out the long one to get more detail 'cuz it's so cool. I think that a) this is exactly what I need; b) it is elegant, has a strong flow state, and is nicely memorable; and c) this is the most flick knitter coded caston to ever exist--something truly delightful. I legitimately don't think left-hand-feeder could come up with this cast on. It's flicking to its very DNA.
Here's the short version, if you're interested. The edge it makes is fetchingly similar to longtail at first glance. You don't need a slipknot to start it. There is no tail length to consider. It is very stretchy and conforms to ribbing above it leaving you a nicely zigzagged edge. It works equally well for 1x1 and 2x2 ribbing (I'd wager it'd be nice for any even pairing, and if the stitch count worked I'd try it for a 5 like 2x3). Its only drawback is it has to be done in even numbers, meaning I can't do my preferred "cast on one extra stitch, slip first stitch, then work the first and last stitches together" joining method for ITR. This hardly matters because it's supremely easy to weave the end in edge pattern to close the gap of the join. (also. I could probably just do a single cable or knit co to make an odd number).
this is a great cast on
like. Super Great
I am such a fan I'm using a heading incorrectly in my excitement
these socks are gonna be glorious socks
no cast on needs a slipknot. Either do the longtail start or a single twisted loop oriented so the twist locks that first stitch in place. Knots are a point of hardness in something otherwise squishy. ↩︎
I'm a die hard cuff down sock knitter. This goes quintuply for anyone with even marginally high insteps--flaps lead to the best gussets ↩︎
that's not an "this is an example" 'like' it's a "this is literally the equivalent of" 'like' ↩︎
which includes all wool yarns, incl superwashes. And why would you spend hours on a not-wool sock?? ↩︎