Questions: casting on, joining, blocking

[SBG]

Figured I'd put everything in one post to save board space ;)

When I do the long tail cast on I don't do a slip knot. For knitting on and the cable cast on, it starts with the slip knot. Does the slip knot count as a stitch? If not, do you just slip it off the needle when you're done casting on?

Any tips for joining in the round? I do a ton of circular knitting, because I enjoy it. My join is always noticeable though. Sometimes one side looks shorter than the other, like there's a dip. Sometimes it's just like a little "V" at the join. I haven't accomplished a really smooth join yet.

Lastly, I'm about to block a wool scarf I knitted. It's my first blocking experiment. My question is, does the blocking hold after you wash it? It seems like you'd have to block after every wash-is that right?

[of troy]

When casting on, the slip knot is generally counted--unless otherwise noted.

when working knit or cable cast on, (or when working Long tail with 2 separate yarns), you have a choice, you can keep the slip knot or not.

any tips for joining in the round? Lots of them!

start with this thread (http://www.knittinghelp.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80646&highlight=Join), (and search here, (else where!) for others.

Think of blocking as 'setting' (think of setting your hair!)

wool is a kind of hair.

use comfortable water (warm, not hot)
be gentle (low/no aggitation) when the fiber is wet.
squeeze (not wring) out moisture
then towel dry (wrap in a towel and squeez out more moisture

treat it gently as you smooth out and position into shape you desire (set it into shape)
let dry.

and yes, just like when you wash your hair, you have to reset it.. when you wash woolens, you reblock.

Its not a big deal (well it is a bit of big deal for shawls, but..)

its wash, get rid of excess water, shape and dry.

and finally just as your hair gets trained (if you wear it back, it tend after time to want to grow back) you knitting gets easier to block with time.. wool has a better memory than human hair!

[Mike]

Knit the slip knot and count it.

I like to cast on an extra stitch and k2tog to join. If I get a dip in the cast on edge I hide it by weaving in the tail.

For wool I haven't had the blocking hold perfectly but the stitches that evened out don't go uneven again. I do have it hold for acrylic, I think because steam block with a steamer and I basically melt the acrylic into the shape I want.
With hand wash wool you have to lay flat to dry so in essence you are reblocking even if you don't pin it out. Since knits naturally stretch over time, over time it would grow and require less stretching if you did that every time.
I haven't used washable wool to know how that reacts.

[cam90066]

I like to cast on an extra stitch and k2tog to join. If I get a dip in the cast on edge I hide it by weaving in the tail.

I prefer this method, as well. Reversing the first/last st option seems to make the join more noticeable for me. And weaving the tail into the join always makes it invisible. :)

cam