New Knitter: Confused about Long Tail Cast On Finshing

[aabright52]

I'm a brand new knitter, just learned this summer. The woman who taught me showed me how to long tail cast on. I left for college and am almost done with my project but I have NO CLUE what to do with this 'tail' at the beginning of my piece.

Any help would be greatly appreciated since I don't have a chance to go home and ask!

[suzeeq]

Some people knit the tail with a few sts of the first row, but that can make the sts too bulky. Mostly when you're done, just thread it through the nearby sts and cut it off.