Only Two Styles of Casting On

As for my casting on: all the items that have ribbing I used the Long Tail Cast-On, everything after that is Cable Cast-On. And CC is pretty loose. At each stitch addition (pulling the stitch onto the left needle), I kept the right needle engaged or stuck between the yarn and the left, leaving a nice space and tension. It seemed to work nicely for me. But remember, my photos show the samples are well pinned. Thinking about it now, I should have been blocking them at the same time. It took a long time to pin them all.

Here is an example of the Long Tail Cast On:


I did experiment with a provisional cast on for a 1x1 ribbing. Casting on by way of Long Tail, half the required number of stitches with smaller needles and a different colour of yarn.
Row 1 RS: (K1, YO) to end.
Row 2 WS: (P1, Pass 1 purlwise) to end.
Return to MC and proper sized needles and continue ribbing pattern. The contrast colour can be cut away and you are left with a springy, lovely, and professional looking start.

Buss, Katharina. Big Book of Knitting. New York: Sterling, c1999. pg 22.

I'm not 100% satisfied with my "increasing evenly spaced across row" way back in Swatches 1 and 2 and I might just knit them again using this type of Cast-On. Maybe.