Neat eh?

O.K. I've been working on this skirt (that is not part of the Creative Plan) and there's this really neat detail that presented a bit of a challenge and I wanted to show you how I'm dealing with it.
The pattern explains how to Make Star: K5tog without dropping sts from left needle, yo, k same 5 sts tog again without dropping from left needle, yo, k same 5 sts tog again and drop from left needle.

I'm working this with two strands of Sublime Ultra Fine Merino and that whole K5tog, yo, k same 5 tog again...thing just wasn't working for me.

And so I thought and I thought and I thought....and then...Ah Ha...I need to be able to hook those babies!!

So, I get a (not too fancy and yet strong) crochet hook and slip the 5 stitches over the end( so that the hook is actually at the end where the point of your knitting needle would be).

I pull the yarn through (and I am NOT a crocheter) wrap the yarn around, insert the hook again into the 5 stitches...

repeat the whole process until I've got the five stitches back onto the hook, transfer them back onto my knitting needle...

and since they've been worked, slip them back to the right hand needle and continue on my merry way.

They've also included a neat way for increasing with this pattern by only using 4 stitches and then increasing it to 5 using the same technique. Genius!

And now, if you'll excuse me I have to go reread this pattern, because I've just read about a small star and I don't know if I've supposed to have been doing them instead! Sigh.