I suggest viewing the Learn to Knit instructions on this website -- Craft Yarn Council, and then check out the videos at [www.knittinghelp.com] Then I would also check out information at [www.lionbrandyarns.com]; [www.knitting.about.com]; and [www.vogueknitting.com] Seeing the same materials presented in different ways can help you learn --- but if you find that confuses you, I suggest starting with the Knitting Help website.

Most cast-ons start with a slip knot and how you described what you did reads as if you are doing a series of slip knots for your cast-on -- this is a new one for me to experiment with.

After that for your first working row, you insert your needle tip into a loop, wrap the yarn around and pull this yarn through to create a new loop on your working needle. Drop the old loop from your holding needle. Your working yarn should be with right there with you to repeat the process with the next loop on the holding needle.

It may be that you are not pulling the yarn through the old loop and instead letting it drop off while slipping the old loop from the holding needle onto the working needle. If this is the case, your working yarn will get left further and further behind.

As you become more experienced, you will want to work closer to your needle tips and not stretch that strand of yarn between the two loops. But for the moment, to see what you are doing, work further down the shaft of the needle -- don't worry at this point about stretching the yarn between the loops. Sometimes they appear more stretched out on the first row or two but after a while the bulk of your developing fabric will minimize the stretch. Do this until you can see what is happening and become more comfortable with what you need to do to create your knitted fabric -- after all you can always rip back which is a great skill for all knitters to learn. <smile>