Fingerless mitts

Hi everyone,

I've been knitting Fingerless mitts that have a thumb. I have to cast
on three stitches after setting aside stitches for the thumb, and the
pattern says to use a backwards loop cast on. I tried it, but got a
not very nice hole. I switched to a cable cast on, and it looks
better, but I still get a hole that needs to be sewn up. It looks
fine, but I feel it could look better.

Does anyone have any other method to cast on those three stitches?

with thanks, Linda D. in B.C., Canada