I am reduced to this.

It's time to start the border of Rosy Fingered Dawn. I have changed to Dark Cloud. It was wound with minimal fuss (although there was a knot in one of the plys, again!). I have the right number of stitches between the corner stitches, I did not even have to "use the next two rnds to adjust the number". I read the detailed instructions carefully. Then I read them again. Then I walked around the room a bit. I took up the work. "Do not break yarn" Hah! After I had tried and failed to "cast on 16 sts invisibly, over a spare piece of yarn on to the right-hand point of the circular needle" at least five times the yarn broke of its own accord.

That's when I started with the heavy guns - wine and chocolate. Both together, at the same time. I tossed the instructions aside, used my own native wit and low cunning, cast on the sixteen stitches on to the left point of the needle and I think it's perfect.



This is half of the first corner mitre, done using short rows. At this stage I was ready to start "eating up" the live stitches of the main body of the shawl. There are 162 stitches on each side between the corner stitches, so there is quite a lot of "eating" still to do. We also need to be sure the stitches don't fall off the other end of the needle. We had to be ingenious, as we have no point protectors. This was my solution:



I think it was originally used on a backpack to fasten the string through the top. It has now got a new life - it is a "Stitch thingy".



There it is - doing its job perfectly. I do not think the stitches would dare to throw themselves off the needle now. I will finish this edging, I will finish this edging, I will finish this edging and preferably before I die of old age.