Bobble Cast On

The bobble cast-on creates a playful textured edge that works beautifully on scarves, shawls, cropped sweaters, and other projects that need a decorative finish.

In this video, you’ll learn how to customize the size and spacing of your bobbles. For the sample shown, the edge begins and ends with 2 plain stitches, uses 5-stitch bobbles, and includes 5 plain stitches between each bobble.

MB - make bobble - Row 1: (Kfb, kfb, k1) all in same st. (OR K, yo, k, yo, k all in same st - see video!)
Row 2: P5. Row 3: K5. Row 4: P5. Row 5: Put a little pressure on your working yarn on the first sti on the left-hand needle. Pass each of the next 4 sts one at a time over that first stitch, pass that stitch to right-hand needle.
Now for the swatch pattern I used:
Row 1: Cast on 17 sts with long-tail cast-on.
Row 2: K2, MB, *k5, MB).
Rep from * across, k2.

Although it’s called a bobble cast-on, you’ll first cast on stitches normally. A long-tail cast-on is used here because it creates a nice garter-style ridge between the bobbles.

You’ll also see the full make-bobble sequence, including increasing into one stitch, working the bobble rows, and finishing by passing stitches over to shape the bobble. Once complete, you can continue with your pattern, beginning the next row as a wrong-side row.

For faster bobble knitting, check out the Knitting Backwards video.