Hi knitters! Today we're going to learn Judy's Magic Cast-On, 
which is a stable
and invisible provisional cast on.
in order to do Judy's Magic Cast-On, I need
two needles,
and they can either be DPNs or
two circular needles which is what I have here.
Or you can use
one circular needle
and use both tips
I have two needles.
One is this gray needle on a pink cord,
and the other is this silver needle.
I'm using two different colors so that
it's easy for you to see what I'm doing.
You may have needles that are the same, 
and that's just fine.
And I also have this pretty, multicolored yarn
that makes it easy to see each stitch.
So to start Judy's Magic Cast-On,
we're going to drape this yarn
across the top needle; 
and I am going to call
this needle - the gray one - the top needle, 
and I'm going to call the silver needle
the bottom needle for the purposes
of this demonstration.
Your needles may be the same color, 
and that's just fine.
So now I'm going to drape
the yarn across the needle
so that the tail is in front
and the working yarn
that goes to the ball -
this is the ball of yarn -
is in the back of the needle.
and I'm going to bring the second needle -
the silver needle which I am 
calling the bottom needle -
up underneath like that.
And now I'm going to pick up the yarn
going to pick up
the tail yarn across my pointer finger
and I'm going to pick up the working yarn
across my thumb.
Now, this looks very similar to how
you would do a long-tail cast on, 
if you're familiar with that cast on.
But with that cast on, I would hold my hand
like this so that the palm is up
and I can see the palm of my hand.
With Judy's Magic Cast-On, 
I'm going to hold my hand
so that the palm is down
and the back is up, 
and I can see the back of my hand.
And that will keep me from getting
tangled up in yarn that i don't need to use.
OK. So this twist that we've made across the top
needle - 
around the top needle - 
counts as the first stitch.
So that means I need to make
a stitch now around the bottom needle.
And the bottom needle always gets its yarn
from the top yarn
that's around my forefinger: 
This purple yarn that goes to the tail.
There are two movements I can do. I can either
swing the needles up and down like a pendulum
while I keep my left hand relatively still,
I would never want to change
which needle is on the top and which needle is on the bottom. 
I would never want to
put them over like this.
I'm just swinging them back and forth,
back and forth, back and forth.
Or, I can use my left hand, 
keep my right hand relatively still,
and use my left hand
to bring the yarn to the needle. 
You should
try both methods and decide which
one works better for you.
So now I need a loop around the bottom needle.
The bottom needle gets yarn
from the top yarn around my forefinger.
so I'm going to move that yarn down
to the bottom needle and make a loop
around the needle like so.
And that loop
now counts as the second stitch cast on.
(Pardon me I keep dropping my yarn.)
Now I need to put another
stitch around the top needle
because we always work back and forth:
First on bottom, then on top, 
then on bottom, then on top.
And the top needle always gets yarn 
from the bottom yarn that's around my thumb,
so that's this red yarn.
So I'm going to move my hand up
and make a loop
around that top needle
with my thumb.
Now I need another loop around the bottom needle.
That comes from the top yarn around my finger.
So move the hand down
and make a loop around the bottom needle.
Now don't get too hung up
on which direction you are looping 
the yarn around the needle.
You can either loop
clockwise or counter clockwise 
and it really doesn't matter.
It doesn't even matter if you are consistent 
from stitch to stitch.
Do it either way that's comfortable for you.
All of the magic is happening between the needles
in the way that the yarn is twisted around itself,
or the two strands are twisted together.
It doesn't matter which way
the yarn it wrapped around the needles 
or what's happening around the needles.
The only thing that will change is the way that
the stitches are mounted.
And that means, you know, if they
have their leading leg in front of the needle,
or if the leading leg is behind the needle,
and we'll talk about that when we knit the first round.
so um... just to prove I don't have to be consistent, 
I'm going to do both directions
while I do this, so you can see.
I need a stitch on the top.
I have two on top and two on the bottom 
so that means
I just put one around the bottom,
because I started on the top.
I need this red yarn on my thumb 
to go around the top needle.
And then the top purple yarn around my finger
will go around the bottom needle.
And then
one more around the top.
And then another one around the bottom.
I'll go that way this time.
And now one around the top;
one around the bottom;
one around the top;
one around the bottom;
one around the top;
one around the bottom; one around the top;
one around the bottom; and you just keep
working back and forth like that.
Now be careful!
There's a tendency when you first learn
to hang on to the yarn really tight
in your left hand.
But, the yarn won't get away, and you need to
hold it loosely enough so that it can slide through
fingers. 
You want to aim to have these loops
about the other same tension as your
regular knitting.
When you've all finished casting on, 
if you turn the needles over
you will see this row of purl bumps - 
let me see if I can get it in close to the camera -
I'm not sure it will focus, but
see the row of purl bumps there?
Those are actual, real purl bumps.
When you do the cast on,
you actually create the first row of
knitting.
And just to prove that, I'm going
to pull the top needle out
and you will see that
oh, look! These are actually real knit stitches.
See that?
OK. So now we have to start over again 
because I pulled that out.
Yarn goes over top needle.
bottom needle comes up underneath.
Pick up tail yard over finger.
Pick up working yarn over thumb.
Top yarn goes around bottom needle.
Bottom yarn goes around top needle.
Top yarn goes around bottom needle.
Bottom yarn goes around top needle.
Top yarn goes around bottom needle.
Bottom yarn goes around top needle.
Top around bottom.
Bottom around top.
Top around bottom.
Bottom around top.
Top around bottom.
Bottom around top.
Top around bottom.
Bottom around top.
Top around bottom.
Bottom around top.
Top around bottom. We'll do one more.
Bottom around top.
Top around bottom.
You can tell this tail is sort of loose and just hanging there, 
and in order to tighten it up
I'm going to pull it around in front
of the working yarn.
Around the working yarn here
and I'm going to pull it around in front
and just kind of hold it
along the needles.
And now I'm going to turn my needles so the points
are to the right because I'm going to knit.
There's been a lot of discussion about
which way to hold the needles, and how do you know 
you're holding it the correct way
to start the first row.
Some people have ended up with their
purl bumps on the outside,
which of course is not always to be desired.
The easiest way that I've found
is to hold the needles
so that they are
parallel to the floor
with the purl bump side pointing up.
OK. So...
Pretend that this is the wall. 
The purl bump side is pointing up to the ceiling
and I'm going to pull the needle that's in back
farthest away from me
to the right
and let the stitches
be on the cable.
And then I'm going to knit from the needle
that is closer to me.
That will guarantee that your purl bumps end up
on the inside of your stock
All right now.
This first stitch
is actually mounted
so it's leading leg is in back. 
I'm going to knit that stitch
through it's back loop, 
or knit the stitch through the middle
to untwist it.
Once I knit that first stitch I can drop the tail yarn, 
because I don't need it anymore.
And here's another stitch that's mounted
with it's leading leg in back - 
see how it's in the back there?
I'm going to also knit it through the back loop,
through the middle of the stitch,
so that it's not twisted.
This stitch is mounted with it's leading leg in front,
so I'm going to knit it through the front.
Remember
that's determined by
the direction that you wrap the yarn
around the needles, and it doesn't matter.
Just have to be careful when we
knit those stitches the first round.
This one has it's leading leg in back.
Knit it through the back.
Leading leg in back;
knit through the back loop.
Leading leg in front; knit through front.
Leading leg in back;
knit through back.
Knit through front.
Knit through back.
Knit through front.
(Need a little more yarn here.)
Now I'm going to
turn my needles: 
Rotate them around so that I can
knit in the round.
I'm going to pull
the silver needle to the right - 
this is the bottom needle to the right
so the stitches are on the cable.
i'm going to push the gray and pink needle
so that the stitches are on the needle 
ready to knit.
And now I'm going to knit across that needle.
Leading leg in front.
Leading leg behind.
Leading leg in front.
Leading leg behind.
Leading leg behind.
Leading leg in front.
Leading leg in front.
Leading leg in front. Leading leg in front.
And there you have it!
That's Judy's Magic Cast-on, and you can
see
it's completely invisible on this side,
it's completely invisible on this side.
You can see there are three rows of purl bumps
because you have actually knit three rows.
Have a fun time doing wonderful things with 
Judy's Magic Cast-On!
