Engine falters in 1st gear

[ejfluhr@wc101.residence.gatech.edu]

Here is a really weird problem.  My engine seems to studder in first gear.
Often when I accelerate, the engine will cut out, the car will jerk forward
as its momentum caries it, and then the engine will immediately kick back in.
This doesn't seem to happen in any other gear, although once in a while it
seems like it tries to falter in second gear.  Now, it is worsening because
when the engine kicks back in, the car will surge forward, and then the
engine will kick back out.  This seems to occur until I change to 2nd gear,
although I've never let this happen more than 4 or 5 times (it isn't
consistent, and of course always happens at the wrong time -> murphy's
law).  Funny thing is, once I get into second gear, it seems to run fine.
I have been playing with the mixture adjustment screw, which is another
story by itself.  Could that cause this behavior?
I've just seen the posts on poor coil/ignition connections, so I'll check
on that tomorrow morning.  Any other ideas are greatly appreciated (I don't
want to get stranded in the cold halfway to work).

Thanks,
Eric