Knitting Memories: Long Tail Cast-On

Today I'm taking a little time to get started on my travel knitting project for my trip.  I'm finally making my Winter Adrift.  I bought the yarn at least six months ago, and meant to make it for wearing this winter, but then decided to save it because it makes such a great travel project - just 2 balls of Malabrigo Lace and one circular needle.

I cast on my 206 stitches using long-tail cast on, and as I did so, I thought of my mother-in-law, as I often do because she taught me this cast on.  And then I decided to share this knitting memory with you.

Malabrigo Lace in Olive
nails:  Essie Pretty Edgy

Hubby and I hadn't been dating for all that long when we knew that we wanted to get married, so we decided we'd better meet each other's families.  My parents came to visit us and fell in love with him as quickly as I did.  Meeting his family was a little trickier, because we had to go to Turkey to do it!

As you can imagine, I was pretty nervous.  Not only was I meeting my future in-laws for the first time, but I was also traveling to a country I knew very little about, and of course I didn't speak any Turkish at the time.  (Well, that's not completely true:  I had managed to learn the word for ice cream.)  

Of course there were reservations on their side too.  Who was this American vixen who was threatening to steal their oldest son away from them, who may never allow him to live in Turkey again?

Hubby and I both clearly remember sitting in their living room on the first day of our visit.  To help keep myself calm, I pulled out my knitting.  Hubby says he immediately saw his mother's shoulders relax and her face light up.  She's an avid knitter too!  We formed an immediate bond over our knitting and went on to find many other ways in which we're very alike.  I'm so fortunate to have a mother-in-law who I truly love and admire.

Before that time my preferred cast-on was knitting on, or occasionally the cable cast-on.  But I really liked the look of the edge of her knitting, so I got her to teach me the long-tail cast on.  I'd seen it done but it never really clicked with me until she showed me.  And we were there for three weeks that first trip, so I kept practicing and she kept helping me out until I finally had it memorized.

Nowadays, the long tail is the cast-on I almost always use.  And almost every time I do, I think of my mother-in-law and the first time I met her.

Do any of you have knitting (or sewing) techniques that remind you of a particular person, place, or moment in time?