I’m currently knitting the Sookie skirt pattern (or trying to). The cast on calls for 3 sts long tail, the rest of the sts (-3 sts) provisional, and then 3 sts backwards loop. The pattern states that the long tail and backwards loop sts will make the hole for the insertion of elastic into the waistband of the skirt.
The pattern also suggests using scrap yarn for the first half of the waist band. I don’t really want to do this (in case the waistband rolls while wearing and reveals the contrasting waste yarn).
However, I cannot for the life of me work out how to cast on the three long tail sts in my project yarn and then go into the provisional cast on in my scarp yarn. Even if I just use my scrap yarn the whole time, I cannot work out how to transition from long tail to provisional cast on.
I have never even done a provisional cast on before, let alone a long tail into provisional, so I am very lost.
That does sound like a mix of cast ons. There’s no need to worry about the waste yarn from the provisional showing should the waistband roll. The waste yarn will be removed at some point to reveal the live sts ( after several rows orgl rounds they will likely be joined to the current sts on the needle). You can read ahead in the pattern to see what happens to the provisionally cast on sts.
Here’s a video for one way to work a provisional. You would cast on 3sts for the long tail using the working yarn, then use waste yarn to work the provisional and finally use a new strand of the working yarn to cast on the backward loop sts.
The next round using the working yarn will probably join to the provisional sts and you’ll continue from there. After some number of rows back and forth, the waste yarn will be removed and the band folded over. The original long tail and backward loop sts will stay as part of the inner band opening while you continue with the newly released sts from the provisional.