Right.

Last we spoke, you were here:

Now we’re at the payoff: you get to unzip the provisional cast-on and reveal the live stitches waiting for you at the bottom.  Oh yeah.

Remember when you tied off the end of your cast-on by pulling the cut yarn through the final loop that was on your crochet hook?  Unpick that.

Now tug on it just hard enough to pull out the first loop.

Et voila!  Put that stitch on your needle, and continue pulling gently and picking up the stitches on your needle.  It’s maybe a good idea (particularly if your yarn is slippery) to insert the tip of the needle into the stitch BEFORE you unzip it:

Of course, if you’re really bold or just like a challenge, you could give a nice, sharp tug and unzip all the stitches at once and then pick them up . . . but that way lies madness (trust me on this one).

Once you’ve got them all unzipped you will notice that your waste yarn runs through a funny half-loop thingy at the side:

You may, if you need or want to, pick it up and put it on your needle.   Or not.  It won’t go anywhere if you don’t.  

You will have one stitch less than you originally cast on.  That loop I was just talking about is half of the missing stitch (the other half is at the other end). 

And there you have it.  A swatch with live stitches at both ends!  How incredibly useful . . . if you want to learn the magical, mystical  Three Needle Bind Off.

But that will have to wait for another day.  Come back soon, y’all hear?