I FOUND IT!!!

:jumps up and down in glee:

Which is a relief, because otherwise i would have wasted the last two hours of my life and never gotten to try this method. It was on a site that i had bookmarked the hompage of, Ysolda, which wasn't very helpful to myself. It's called Tubular Cast On and apparently there are a couple of different methods (that are featured on other websites and blogs) and i'm going to try them all! Eventually, at least. (: Here's the video, which you can find by searching for "Tubular Cast On" using her site search engine.

Casting On

So i have discovered (though long suspected) that my casting on method does not really have a name or actually exists as a taught method. i learned to knit a long time ago, when i was still in junior high, and taught myself from a book that did not have the best illustrations. For a long time my knitting was perfected through the elbow grease of trial and error, and as a result i probably don't know all of the tricks that would have been taught to me had i learned from another knitter. i'd been meaning to look up cast on methods, but last night i was talking to one of the women i work with, and she said that all cast on methods are supposed to have elasticity, and i inwardly knew that my cast on has never been elastic. It used to be tight, even, but though my tension has improved with time, the resulting edge has always been rigid. i imagine that this might actually be something that could be helpful in certain situations and projects, but not usually. (:

So i visited KnittingHelp.com and here is my discovery: my cast on is a modified version of Knitting On, though i don't twist the stitch the way they do (i sometimes twist the sts while working the second row, but usually just leave it as normal).

Grandma tried to teach me the Long Tail Cast On when i had only been knitting for a few weeks but my brain couldn't wrap around it at the time, and she didn't do enough knitting anymore to really answer my questions (i couldn't even form them yet, as i recall). Though now it looks easy enough i still am not thrilled about figuring out how much yarn i need before hand.

The Single cast on looks like it's cheating. A row of half hitches, come on, how sturdy can that be? But there a lot more methods of casting on for me to try that there are videos for on this website! i am so excited. Incidentally, the KnittingHelp website also says "Casting Off" instead of "Binding Off", so i'm not a total loser!

But the method of casting on that i really wanted to try i can no longer find for some reason. i know that i had it bookmarked, and i know that i watched it last week, but now i can't find it! i went through all my knitting bookmarks and still can't find it!!! And that's why i started writing this post in the first place, to tell you about that method, and in the meantime i got sidetracked finding the other webpage and trying to find the one video i wanted to show you in the first place. ):

December already?

Another present project down, three to go, and i'm dreaming of knitting my grandma some socks with a new elastic-y cast-on that i saw online. Today i joined Ravelry and archived what knitting needles and crochet hooks i have. i wish i could knit more!

Christmas projects update

Well some of my Christmas projects have morphed into sewing instead of knitting, but they are coming along. In the knitting department i have two completely finished, one finished but i think i'll be adding another piece, one started, and two planned. In the sewing department i have three projects with the material and notions purchased but haven't started on any of them yet. i have my work cut out for me.

Working where i do, at a Hancock Fabrics, i get plenty of inspiration, but no time to sew and little time to knit. i want a new job, mostly because of coworkers. The job isn't hard, but it can be annoying and is definitely exhausting. It's also tempting... i have got to stop buying fabric and start working on projects, whether the items are on sale or not.

update

sigh...

Well, i've completed knitting projects for two Christmas presents, and bought some yarn for additional projects, but haven't started them. It seems like so many of my projects don't turn out the way i expect them to or age prematurely. My PoA scarf looks horrid, probably because i washed it in the machine and wore it every day and the yarn was hand wash only, and the scarf really wasn't wide enough or long enough in the first place. My messenger bag never got truly finished, it turned out that i didn't purchase quite enough fabric, and the flap was too short, which didn't stop me from using the bag every day... and a seam needs to be repaired as a result, but i don't even know where i stashed the bag, it probably needs to be washed, too. i've never found a pattern that would work for the Fox beanie visor. The crocheted newsboy cap from Knit 1 has never looked right on me, and i'm not happy with the visor on it. My swimsuit/coverup project has been a complete fiasco. i haven't taken the time to sew all the projects i've cut out. My digital camera's screen is totally messed up now for no explicable reason. It's all very discouraging. i must get some more projects done but i'm not sure that i can take failure right now...

re: beanie visor

Would you believe that i still have not knit this project? This winter Wal-Mart had rip offs of the elusive Fox beanie visor but they looked poorly knit. i'm still searching for the zigzag knit stitch pattern that i know must be out there in order to allow me to recreate this pattern myself... So far my efforts have been unsuccessful.

Has it really been that long?

Well i've been working full time, going to school full time, and not knitting nearly enough to keep down my stress levels. i've knitted two hats for Christmas presents for next year... but i'm not posting photos of them until at least December 25th! Now that i've finally bought a digital camera i guess i need to start updating though, huh?