I have been a long-tail cast on person for a LONG time. I know other cast ons, and I know there are better choices for some purposes, but I default to long-tail most of the time.
(When I teach, I teach the knit cast on, because once you know it you also know how to knit, which saves time. It’s less fiddly for kids, too.)
Kate Atherley has spent a lot of time thinking about, trying and learning from different cast on methods, and she recently rounded up some of her favorite ways to start a knitting project over at Modern Daily Knitting.
Click over to see swatches using different kind of casts ons and a little bit about the properties of each one. If you want actual tutorials you’ll still have to Google it or search on YouTube or your favorite knitting reference book.
There’s also a printable chart that shows different purposes for which you might need to cast on stitches, as well as different methods that are a good option for those situations. So handy!
[Photo: Modern Daily Knitting.]
Looking for printed hard copy knitting books? Check out these Knitting Pattern books 
When should I use the Chinese Waitress Cast On? It’s really pretty.
I was going to say socks. I don’t seem to have the book I learned about that cast on from anymore so I looked online and Ashley Little at Bluprint said it’s medium stretchy and looks good on both sides so it’s good for things you see both sides of like blankets and scarves.