Step One

This is the completed Step One of the Mystery Stole. It started Friday and a lot of the group have already completed this first step. Some people are still waiting on their yarn to come in so they'll catch up when they can. As of this morning, there are 360 people in the Mystery Stole Along group. I was going to do it if 10 people were interested! I can't believe the group is this big! Its really a great group. There are people who have never knitted lace before and people who knit lace all the time. Everyone is willing to jump in and help out anyone else or just offer encouragement to those who feel overwhelmed. My own lace knitting experience falls between the newbies and the experts and I've even learned a lot. The single biggest, most amazing thing I've learned so far (not counting all the computer junk I've learned just trying to get everything working) is an easy way to do a provisional cast on. I use provisional cast on for the easy toe of my socks but I've never done it right. I always mess up the picking up stitches through the crochet chain. I don't crochet (except chains for provisional cast on) and I think the yarn knows this - kinda like a wild animal or technology, it senses fear. What I start out with is a nicely crocheted chain. What I end up with is a twisty, senseless mess with bumps that appear and disappear randomly and sometimes reproduce themselves strangely just to taunt me. Well, no more you filthy crocheted nemesis. As Darth Vader himself said, "I have you now!" Go check this out...