I'm going to show you how to do a long-tailed cast on. You start out with one strand of yarn that's about 1 inch per every stitch you're making. I want about 8 stitches, so I'm going to pull out about 8 inches of yarn. This rule of thumb is for worsted-weight yarn, something that knits around 5 stitches per inch. And I'm going to pull a little extra for a tail. You start by making a slip knot. You loop the yarn into the letter "o." And you pull a tail up through it. When you grab onto that end, as you can see, it makes a little loop, and when you pull it from one end or the other, it slips--thus the name! When you're putting it on the needle, you want to put it on so that the tail is toward you. Then you're going to use only one knitting needle. You make your hand into an okay sign. You put it through the strands of the needle. You're going to put it halfway through, and then grab down here. Then you open up, like this. into a diamond shape. You pull down into a heart shape, You're going to start by grabbing the left strand with the needle like this, then the right strand, then you're going to push your needle straight through the thumb loop, just like this. Let go with the thumb, and use the thumb to pull it out. You want the stitch taut...snug... but not tight. You want to be able to move it easily on the needles. Now you're going to go down, back to your heart shape... over here... over there ... straight down through... let go with the thumb, and use the thumb to pull it. If as you're going, you feel like you need to reorient, take your hand out, then go back to your okay sign. In, grab down, open to diamond, into heart, over here, over here, and through. Keep in mind that when you're doing this, you're not starting from one side or the other. You're always going from the center. Out ... down ... this way ... that way ... and as you keep learning how to do this, it gets very fast. And one more stitch. You're good to go! Next we'll start knitting. www.reallyclear.com