When I first stared knitting I had a bad habit of casting on too tight, making my beginning row really difficult. I have since stopped being so bad about it. But my cast on rows always look awful. There are always big loops on the bottom between my cast on stitches, even if I bring the stitches close to the end of the needle when I cast on. This makes things like hats be really loose and flabby at the end. Any suggestions?
Use a different CO. The backward loop one gathers extra yarn between each stitch as you work the first row, the knit or cable CO will be a lot more stable, as will long tail CO.
I agree… learn to do long tail or the knitted cast on for most things.