I have a question though. I've got the slipknot and cast-on thing down, but when I go to try to start the actual knitting part, I'm messing up because the tail from my cast on is in the way and I either start using it to knit (instead of the part that comes from tha ball of yarn) or I just can't get away from it and mess up some other way. I've tried watching the videos, but she doesn't have a tail like I do. I know someone said they weave it in, but I have no idea how to do that. It's driving me crazy. I feel like I'm stuck until I figure it out because I keep messing up with it hanging there.
You don't really need that much of a tail. I usually leave around 6 inches or so. That way, it's enough to weave back in, once you're ready to weave in all the yarn ends. Or, if you really want that much yarn left once you are done casting on, you could gather it all up, and secure it to the work with a safety pin. Or you could take a small piece of cardboard, cut a slit in both ends, and wind the yarn through the slits.
You can't really avoid having a tail, and after a while it's far enough away not to get in the way anymore. Marking it somehow, like Deadringer said, is a good way to avoid knitting with it. (We've all done that.)
"Trust the pattern!"
Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana.
Hop aboard while we follow the cloud-covered van of knitting harmony, man!! Woooo!! --Hedgehog
What I usually do is on the first few stitches, I actually knit the tail in with the working yarn, that way there's nothing to weave in later. Never had a problem so far! Just hold them together like 1 strand and knit! But don't forget what you've done when you go to knit the next row, since there'll be 2 loops there for each 1 stitch.
I use the tail to knit back the first row. I knit the first stitch using the tail, the second stitch using the working yarn and continue alternating until the tail is too short to use anymore or I reach the other end of the row. Then I drop the tail, and use only the working yarn. After I'm sure I'm going to finish the project, I cut what's left of the tail off close to the knitted fabric.