How much yarn to cast on?

[Suziblues]

This has probably been covered before, I looked a little bit but couldn't find any thing about it so:

Does anyone know any tricks about how much yarn to pull out to cast on?
Like, if I had to cast on 22 stitches, how many inches of yarn would that take etc. etc.?

THANK YOU for any info,
sue

[Dangles]

If you are doing a long-tail cast on.
* Take your yarn wrap it around the needle ten times (= ten sts)
* At end of last wrap pinch yarn closest to skien with you finger and unravel
* take the length you just wrapped around needle and make equal lengths to your required amount of stitches to cast on.

[cam90066]

Depends on the weight of yarn, sz of ndls. I just wrap yarn around ndl I'm using for no of sts (allowing for tail of desired length). If I have lots of sts to co I'll just do 1/2 or 1/4 of total needed and then add length for the add'l. For instance, if 50 sts (50 wraps/winds) = 2 ft of yarn and I need 100 sts I'll allow for 4 ft (2x2)...plus my tail.

cam

[wolfette]

A little trick I do is to wrap the yarn a bit loosely around the needle about 10 times, then measure out from there (ie. if 30 stitches, then 3 times my original measurement). Then I add about 9 inches or so for a little extra just in case I'm short a few and to have the end to weave in. Hope this helps.

[suzeeq]

For 22 sts... probably about a yard....

[...dotty...]

I read somewhere that it's roughly 3 times the width of what you're knitting, plus enough for a tail to weave in later.

[suzeeq]

Right, about 3 times the number of inches the piece is going to be. So for some 10" wide, about 30" plus 6" tail = 36".

[Suziblues]

Wow! Thanks everybody for all the casting on tips!

I usually have a real long tail hanging down because I pulled out too much. I hate when I didn't pull out enough though, I have to start all over. But now I'll know!

Thank You All!
luv,
sue

[Mulderknitter]

I always struggle with this! Thanks guys!

[sinistral_needler]

Dumb newbie question here: Why does this matter?