The cast-on recommended for this pattern is extremely similar to the long-tail cast-on, except that instead of the two strands used being the working yarn and a long tail (as they would be for a regular long-tail cast-on), your two strands will be C1 and C2. The other difference is that although half of the stitches are created in the usual long-tail way, the other half are created backwards from that usual way.

Step 1

Make a slip knot with the two colours together. Note that this slip knot is just temporary, in order to keep the yarn in place as you start casting on stitches – you will be undoing it later on.

Step 2

Step 2: Hold MC1 around your thumb and MC2 around your index finger as you would for a long-tail cast-on.

Step 3

Step 3: Move needle through the thumb loop by going under the left strand left-to-right.

Step 4

Step 4: Move needle through the index finger loop by going under the left strand right-to-left.

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Step 5: Pull strand that you’ve just captured from the index finger loop through the thumb loop by going under the left strand of the thumb loop right-to-left.

Step 6

Step 6: Drop loops from thumb and index finger and pull two strands snugly to create a MC2 stitch.

Step 7

Step 7: Resume holding MC1 around your thumb and MC2 around your index finger exactly as you did in Step 2.

Step 8

Step 8: Move needle through the index finger loop by going under the right strand right-to-left.

Step 9

Step 9: Move needle through the thumb loop by going under the right strand left-to-right.

Step 10

Step 10: Pull strand that you’ve just captured from the thumb loop through the index finger loop by going under the right strand of the index finger loop left-to-right.

Step 11

Step 11: Drop loops from thumb and index finger and pull two strands snugly to create a MC1 stitch.

Repeat Steps 2-11 until you have the desired number of stitches. Undo the slip knot and slide it off the needle once all the stitches have been cast on.