Can anyone help me understand the SANDS baby blanket pattern?

[Heloise1982]

I'm trying to knit a square blanket according to the SANDS pattern (it's a diagonal square), but I'm a bit confused by the starting point. I'd usually cast on 3 stitches to do a diagonal square, but this says:

Cast on 1 stitch
Next row: Make the one stitch into two stitches
Next row: Knit 1, into the next stitch make another, 3 stitches on needle.

Continue to knit, etc.

How do you cast on a single stitch?? Surely there is nothing to hold it in place to then turn it into two stitches? It doesn't make sense to me, but I'm assuming my inexperience is letting me down. I've tried googling to no avail.

(I'm not a particularly experienced knitter, but I have managed blankets before, including diagonal squares. But I'm a bit befuddled by this one.)

I would take this to mean
make loop on to the needle = 1 stitch
knit into the front and back of this one loop = 2 stitches
knit 1 , then knit into front and back of second stitch = 3 stitches
Does that make sense?
and hope it helps :)

I just did it to show you . - Hope that helps too :)

Oh I see yes that makes sense. I would never have worked that out from the pattern! Thank you, I will give it a go tonight when small people are in bed

Thanks both xxxxx

if you don't ask, you never find out!
hope it worked out Heloise :)