Men Who Knit Promoting and inspiring the art of knitting amongst men.

I am looking for information about what MWK members do when finishing a knitted garment  Do people block with pins and steam or only steam the loose pieces?  Which garments would be blocked/steamed and which would not?  How does one make the determination?  Do people block to straighten the pieces so they match or to plump-up the stitches to even out the surface of the fabric and even-out the stitches?  The literature gives differing opinions on the need for blocking so I'm curious to know the experiences and opinions of others in our little knitting communit

The sock yarn i bought today is called  Sockotta,  its from plymouth their italian collection.  its 45%cotton, 40% superwash wool and 15% nylon.  It looks like colored kite string not yarn.  Ive hear comments of socks knitting up quickly.  Right,  its going to take weeks to make a pair of socks.  I hope there is enough. I got 414 yards.  looks to be enough.  the swatch looks great, the colors are wonderful.  I hope the socks look as good.

I learned to cast on using the long tail method (needle through loop on left thumb, wrap yarn, lift loop over needle), however I've never cared for the edge it creates on a ribbed piece such as a hat, sock or cuff.  I've spent some time trying to learn other methods of casting on but haven't found any good discussion of when to choose which one, and none of my swatches seems clearly superior to the others.  Which method do you prefer for a visible ribbed edge that is stretchy but not too loose and has a nice appearance and feel.  Or is the secret not in the method of casting on but rather in using a different size needle or in working the first round a certain way?