My friend and former wonder-helper Anie proposed this Q awhile back, and it came to mind as I was packing my desk for the move. Most of my knitting patterns are downloads. The moment a PDF comes into my possession, I drop it immediately into Evernote and add some helpful tags so I’ve always got them available. In that regard they are all neatly stored and organized. But when I’m ready to actually knit from a pattern, I almost always print it out. I’m still a pencil-and-paper girl when it comes to annotating things, so I mark it all up before I start, and I leave myself notes about my mods at the end, so that I can (in theory) refer back to it if I ever need to. The prints have just been stacking up on my desk over the last couple of years, along with any paper patterns that come into my possession, which does happen from time to time. They’re not in any particular order or anything. And right now they’re in a giant ziploc bag in the back of the car, headed east. I like the idea of organizing them in some fashion in a binder, along with the ball band from the yarn, maybe a swatch? (ha!) But this is sure to get some interesting answers, so here’s my Q for You: How do you store/organize your patterns?

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My knitting bag overfloweth again and I was trying to figure out why, since I’ve been so much better lately about not casting on new projects willy-nilly. As usual, what’s taking up space is detritus of finished projects — swatches and yarn ends, and gloves and hats waiting to be blocked. But I do have several works in progress — four sweaters (one for Bob), a hat, and the vest front I cast on in a class at Squam — plus one big swatch and sample yarn for a pattern I hope to someday get back to. But basically six WIPs. I’m sure this is “better” than some people and “worse” than others, but I also think we all have different ideas about whether having a lot of WIPs is a good or bad thing. So this is my Q for You: How many WIPs do you currently have going, and if it’s different from the norm for you, what is your norm?

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PREVIOUSLY in Q for You: What else do you do while you knit?

I’m always hearing about people reading while they knit — or even surfing the web — and I’m utterly in awe of that. I love knitting, among other reasons, for the fact that it doesn’t take me out of my life. I can carry on conversations, look at the scenery out a car window, watch a movie with my husband, whatever the case may be. It doesn’t require my undivided attention, in other words, but it does require my hands. I can’t figure out how anyone reads (as in, holds a book open and turns pages) while knitting, unless they mean audio books, which I’m totally on board with. But I do watch movies and television while I knit — preferably a really good TV series I’ve never seen that offers hours upon hours of good company.

So that’s my latest Q for You: What else do you do while you knit? If you read, how do you do that, logistically speaking. And if you have recommendations for a good, long TV series or audio book — the more hours the better — let’s hear ’em! (Especially audio books since I also need them for my upcoming trip.)

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PREVIOUSLY in Q for You: Does having a yarn stash work?

Such a broad question! As much as we all love starting a new project — to the point where some of us (ahem) have cast-on-itis — I think a lot of knitters don’t give much thought to the actual act of casting on. I know I didn’t for the first year I was knitting. I was taught the long-tail cast on, and that seemed to be what all the patterns specified, if they specified anything at all. Then in January of last year, I took a tips-and-tricks class from Josh Bennett in SF and he had a lot to say about cast ons. He talked about whether the first row after long-tail needs to be a right- or wrong-side row (which I had often wondered about) and also about how long-tail leaves you with purl bumps at the bottom of your knitted ribs (which I had never thought to be bothered by, but he’s so right). He showed us how to do long-tail backwards and also the Italian something or other, which is ideal for 1×1 ribbing and which I’ve forgotten in the meantime, having never used it. (There’s always YouTube, right?) But he got me thinking, is the point.

(By the way, I don’t start long-tail with a slip knot. I just make my slingshot, pull down on it with my needle — as pictured — and start casting on stitches. I get really puzzled when I see someone talking about beginning long-tail with a slip knot: what’s the purpose of that?)

Those two Orlane shawls I knitted last year introduced me to the utterly fascinating garter tab cast on for top-down triangular shawls. And reading and knitting so many Brooklyn Tweed patterns, where they’re particularly favored, I’ve also become super curious about tubular cast ons. I did my first one in working on Slade, and it is some kind of beautiful voodoo is all I can tell you.

At VKLive this month, in her steeking class, Ragga Eiriksdottir taught us the German Twisted cast on. (Here’s a video of Lucy Neatby doing it.) Ragga said she liked it better than long-tail for a sweater because it’s just as stretchy but … more durable? I wish I could remember for sure, and I also wish I’d asked her whether it’s her go-to or just her favorite for sweater hems.

The thing that fascinates me about cast ons isn’t just that there are so many ways to get yarn onto the needle, but that there are so many different applications for the different methods. I’m sure lots of people have made a serious study of it, and I wish I had time to do the same. But I think it’s one of those aspects of knitting knowledge that will simply have to develop over the years — as long as I don’t just default to long-tail every single time.

So here’s my Q for You: How do you cast on? The same way no matter what, or do you have different favorites for different fabric or project types?

UPDATE: The replies made me realize there are two long-tail variations I’ve used that are worth noting. The only provisional cast on I know involves using your working yarn and waste yarn and the long-tail method. I loosely tie the two together, rest that on my needle with the waste yarn forward, make my slingshot and start casting on. (The knot does not count as a stitch.) And that amazing Rosa Pomar hat I just finished uses a braided cast on, which is basically the same thing only you start by tying together your two different colors. Cast on one stitch, rotate the yarns clockwise so the next stitch you cast on is with the second color, and repeat — rotate the yarns clockwise and cast on a stitch; rotate the yarns clockwise and cast on a stitch …

And I do use backwards loop or cable cast on for casting on stitches in the middle of a row.

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PREVIOUSLY in Q for You: Do you knit year round?

It’s always interesting this time of year — with the sun getting brighter and the days longer — to see blog traffic dipping a little bit as some people’s attention turns elsewhere. I am so spoiled (in this regard) by living in a place where it’s never truly summer that I forget knitting is seasonal for some people. It’s impossible for me to imagine putting knitting out of my mind for even a week, let alone a few months. But then I remember one day where it really was blazing hot (by our standards), and my palms were sweating and I thought the idea of handling wool sounded positively ghastly. So I glimpsed it for a moment, but I also have this idea that people in hot climates have air conditioning (also foreign to me), so does it matter whether it’s hot outside? This may sound really ignorant, but it’s weird and hard, living in a place with no weather, to remember what it’s like elsewhere. So this is my Q for You: Do you knit/crochet all year? If you do, do you work differently, with different fibers? If not, do you switch hobbies to something else? Or are you a person who spends all summer cranking away at your woolly holiday gifts?

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PREVIOUSLY in Q for You: Do you go to knitting events?