Slow Progress

Have been working here and there on the SKB. Had a problem where I dropped some stitches just before a marker, so it wasn't a simple matter of laddering down and then using a crochet hook to ladder back up... though I did try. Had to rip out one repeat of the yoke increases and re-do it. Luckily, the yarn I'm using isn't too slippery and the stitches held themselves together long enough for me to pick them back up with a small set of circulars.

Then I thought it was time to try on the sweater, so I counted the number of stitches on the needles, and it turns out I need one more repeat of the yoke increases before I'll be ready to slip the sleeve stitches and work on the sweater body. Don't know why I thought I should do 6 repeats instead of 7, but I guess that's why you count stitches before you stomp on through to the next instruction.

I'm almost one ball of yarn into the project at this point; I've put it down because I have to join the next ball and I'm on a purl row, and I'm trying to figure out if I'm skilled enough to knit my ends in on a purl row or not. I guess I'll just have to go for it and see.

The good news is that I think I have figured out what I want to do for short row shaping... I have two choices and I'll just try one on the first front I come to and see how it turns out. One method is to pick a vertical center point over one front section, then knit back and forth almost to the edge several times. I think this will make a narrow, football-shaped area centered over the bust point). The other method is to start the short row shaping right at the bust point, then knit some very short rows followed by increasingly-longer short rows. I think this will make a two-dimensional cone-shaped area that starts at the bust point and extends downward over the bust toward the empire line. I have no way of knowing which way will fit me better; hopefully (after all this cogitation) one way will look decent on my body.

I may get all sneaky and knit in a very thin lifeline before I start the short rows so if I need to rip back, I can do it without worrying.