How to avoid a jog in your hats

When using the long tail cast on

if you’ve used the long tail cast on method to knit a hat in the round, you might have noticed a bit of a bump, or a “jog” in the bottom edge of your hat.  This is very similar to what happens when you change colors knitting in the round.  There’s a very simple step that you can take to help minimize the appearance of this jog (small bump) – and in this post, I’ll walk you through how to do this in a series of photos and descriptions.

Some knitters might be ok with this little bump, but if you’re like me and often knit for others, you want your works to be as perfect as possible.  This is why I take this simple step with all my hats.

previiusky, I have not worked this into my patterns because it takes up space but you can easily incorporate this method into any of the free hat patterns that are listed on this site.

How to avoid this jog, using the long tail cast on, when knitting in the round:

Step 1: cast on the appropriate amount of stitches per your patterns instructions.  For my Cables A Go Go hat, this is 96.

Step 2: Cast on one additional stitch.  This means for this pattern, I would have cast on a total of 97 stitches.

Step 3: adjust your stitches as if you were to begin knitting in the round, slip the first stitch from the left hand needle, onto the right hand needle knit-wise.

Step 4: take the second stitch on the right hand needle and slip it over the first stitch.  (Taking the this stitch over the one you just slipped from the left needle).

Step 5: Lastly, take the first stitch on the right needle, and slip it back onto the left needle.  Place your stitch marker and you are now ready to start working in the round.

If you have any questions, or found this helpful, please let me know by swinging by my Contact Page!