Christmas Gift!

Christmas is coming and I saw this great scarf pattern (in addition to some other scarf patterns ;P) that I wanted to give a go at.  But, life took over and I only managed to make one (1) special gift for a special someone. :)

For my special someone:  Your pattern comes from Berroco Knits and is called the Navarra.  I used my super awesome Chiagoo Twist (Metal) US 8 needles and nine (9) skeins of Patons Diana yarn in pink to make your ~6 feet (or 186 cm) long scarf.  I used a cable cast-on and Jenny's Surprisingly Stretching Bing-Off to start and end your scarf:

I hope you find that it brightens up your wardrobe this winter as well as keep you warm! :)

Here's some ways you can wear your scarf:

I really wanted to make a few more things (including a few more scarves) but ... the year got away from me! :'(  Hopefully, next year I can get to the other gifts I wanted to give a go at. ;)

Since this blog is about Christmas, in the Christmas spirit, if anyone's interested in those water bottle sleeves I made (see pictures of it from my previous posts way back in February and April), here's the pattern.  I call it Ariana's Bottle Holder (in homage to my friend Ariana who help me make this) and the pattern below is for my very first bottle holder (with the Kleen Kanteen in it) as shown in post: Catching Up.

1. Make a swatch for gauge.  I used Red Heart Super Saver yarn, color Light Grey (ID# E300_341) = 7.5cm @ 5 cm => 7.5/5 = 1.5cm
2. Measure around the largest/widest section of the bottle.  The initial bottle I used was a 12 oz. Kleen Kanteen = 23cm
3. Multiply gauge by the number of cm around the bottle.  For me it was: 1.5 * 23 = 34.5 stitches
4. Cast on (using your favorite cast on method) 34 or 36 stitches around on 4 needles (you need to have an even number of stitches)
5. Knit & purl for about 1” (2.5 cm) or length of the bottle neck (or as long as you desire)
6. Continue to knit (and/or purl depending on what kind of design you want for the main body) until its as deep as the bottle is high
7. K2 together around
8. K1 round straight
9. K1 round straight
10. K2 together around
11. K2 together around
12. Continue until there are 6 stitches or less
13. Take off needles and draw the tail through the last stitches and pull tight
14.  If you would like to make a strap for the bottle holder, pick up 4 – 6 stitches near the top of the bottle holder (by the bottle neck area); you can pick up stitches anywhere in that area or between the transition of the bottle neck and bottle area.
15. Knit (and/or purl (again - depending on what design you want for your strap) as many rows as you want until the desired length of your strap is reached.
16. If you want a button on the other side, knit until you are 1” from where you would like your buttonhole to be.
17. Measure your button and knit the next few stitches until you are ready to start the hole; then bind off the length of your buttonhole then knit the remaining stitches.
18. On the next row, knit the same number of stitches you ended with; then cast on the same number of stitches you bound off; then knit the same number of stitches you started with in #17.  For example:  your strap is 8 stitches wide
19. R1: Knit the first 2 stitches then bind off 4 stitches then knit the last 2 stitches
20. R2: knit the first 2 stitches (same as the last 2 stitches in R1), cast on 4 stitches (same as the bound off stitches in R1), then knit the last 2 stitches (same as the first 2 stitches in R1)
21. Knit the next row the same number of stitches as the row prior to the buttonhole.
22. Continue to knit as many rows you want until you feel the strap is long enough.  Then bind off.  Sew in the end – you may want to make it long enough to reinforce the buttonhole.
23. You’re DONE!!! Enjoy your new bottle holder!!

It's been One (1) Whole Year

It's been one (1) whole year now since I started (really) knitting and I thought it would be worth the time to sum up what I've been up to:

I've made:

1. A shawl that turned into a blanket that my Hubby now uses daily and I get to wash it and look at it occasionally. :P
2. Three (3) bottle holders: two (2) little ones and one (1) big one.
3. Three (3) socks in which each sock was a learning sock - how to actually make a sock using both the top-down and toe-up method (I like the toe-up method, it just makes more sense to me), how to make a sock actually fit a real foot when completed, and how to have tabi toes.  
• I also am working on actually making one (1) working (meaning they fit Hubby's feet) pair of socks.
4. Six (6) cable squares (as part of my Knit-Along).
5. A scarf for a Christmas gift (a post on that coming shortly - don't want to spoil someone's Christmas gift! ;)).

I've also:

1. Injured myself and had to actually take a break from knitting before I even really got started. :(
2. Started a stash (how scary! :P).
3. Joined a Knit-Along and learned how to make cables! :) (And, discovered that I'm not a good follower of a Knit-Along. :P)
4. Created a method on how to keep track of all my knitting paraphernalia and yarn.
5. Gone on my first Yarn Crawl (and then some!) :)
6. Started working on my ultimate goal: a sweater! *yay* :)

When I think about it (and seeing this list), I've actually accomplished a lot in my first year, particularly since I was restricted from knitting for about two (2) months or so.  Amazing ... :)  If someone told me that I'd be doing all this stuff in my first year of knitting (especially while I was working on my initial (wretched) little swatch and was struggling with actually making an actual knit stitch, I would've told them they were crazy! :P

Now, I wonder what I can accomplish this forthcoming year?  Well ... first, I need to finish Hubby's socks and my sweater.  Then, I think I should work on shrinking my stash. :)  I have quite a few balls of sock yarn that is calling out to be made into socks so, perhaps next year, it'll be the year of socks.  Plus, I think I'd like to actually finish that Knit-Along and finish making all those cable squares (and using up the rest of that stash!). :)  Maybe I'll have my own blanket to use this forthcoming year ... We'll see! :)  And, depending on my sweater project, perhaps make a couple more sweaters to wear. :)  Plus, more Christmas gifts! :)  *whew* I hope I have enough time for all of that! :P

Wish me luck! :)

Seetaa no Monogatari Part 5

I did it .... I ripped out what I had done and started over.  I re-casted on my stitches, joined in the round, made the first six (6) rows for the rolled collar, and started increasing.  Here's what it looks like at Row 12 (Row 18 if you count the rolled edge although I just starting counting at the first increase row since that's where I need to start to account for where the sleeves should split off.):

So, that's a whole inch (yup, you heard me right: one (1) whole inch!) so far ... At least my stitch gauge is still relatively close at 21.5 stitches per 4" (that's 5.375 per inch; I'm supposed to be at 5.25 stitches per inch) and, my row gauge appears to remain the same at 8 rows per inch.  I'll check my gauge again when I've got another inch on the sweater (that'll be at Row 16).

Here's what it looks like at Row 26:

I'm finally nearly back to my original gauge of 21 stitches per 4" and now, my row gauge is 15 rows per 2".  I think I'm still doing ok.  Here's a close up of the sleeves:

Much better! ;)

Here's what it looks like at Row 33 - the five (5) inch mark:

I'm soooo much more happier with this version of the sweater.  It's really coming out quite well; the shoulders are looking very even, the fit seems better, and most importantly, the stitch counts are the same on all sides of the sweater! :)

Here's what it looks like at the 6.5" mark (Row 51):

I've still have a gauge of 21 sts per 4" and 30 rows per 4".  So, it seems that my stitch and row gauge is a little smaller than my original (start of sweater) but, I think I'm still doing ok ... I may just need to do another inch or so. :P

Here's what Row 56 (with a lifeline) looks like (along with a million stitch markers):

I've still got a close gauge (21 stitches per 4" and 30 rows per 4"), so, I think I'm still doing ok.  It's taken me a week to finish this but, when I try to squeeze the sleeves together, I'm wondering if its really big enough.  I either need to do more rows or else add a cable cast on to lengthen the sides for the sleeves and body.  I think it's time to check in with Kim again.  At least, I'm almost ready to split off the sleeves and body! :)

Big Island Yarn Crawl

OMG ... I DO have the bestest hubby ever ... for my birthday this year, he took me to the Big Island for a surprise yarn crawl! :)  He did his darnedest to really keep this a surprise!  In fact, he told me about the trip the night before we left.  He had everything planned out. :)  How awesome was that?!  

We spent three (3) lovely days on the Big Island where we had lots of fun finding yarn (and beer & camera) places. :)  (Hey, since Hubby was generous enough to take me to the Big Island, I had to take him to a few pubs & whatever camera stores he had found! :))

We started out by hanging out at the airport for four (4!) hours as Hawaiian grounded most of its interisland fleet due to corrosion issues.  At least I got a lot of knitting done while we were waiting (yup, I brought my sweater with me :P). :)  

We finally flew out on a bigger plane and landed in Kona at around 1p.  Since we were stuck at the airport for so long, our first stop was lunch at Kona Brewing Co. where we had a huge lunch and some good beer.  With some food in our tummies, we were able to check out the following places before it closed (everything closes early on the Big Island - no late city nights here):

• Lighthaus Camera (Hubby says that he likes this one better than the one we have at home.)
• Quilt Passions, which was more a quilt store that also had a small room of non-local yarn.  Since it didn't carry any local yarn and the cost of their yarn was comparable, if not a bit more than yarn I can find at home, I didn't pick up anything here.
• da Bead Shop where I was hoping to find some great beads for a pair of earrings or beads to make stitch markers but alas, this shop was more for pre-made jewelry. :(
• Island Yarn & Art Supplies, which was a great shop close to the Kona Costco.  They had a nice selection of yarn and accessories on the 2nd floor.  They also carried Ahualoa Alpaca yarn and some other locally hand dyed yarn but, I didn't pick up any because it was really expensive and/or it was simply too warm for items I'd want to use here.  Here's what I did ended up picking up though ;):

I can't wait to try out my new Sirka counter (it should really help with my cable squares) and I just couldn't resist this sock yarn. :P  Isn't it so cute?! :)  I love the colors (and It'd make really cute knee high tabis! :D). :)

They also carried Go Knit pouches which I was really excited to see.  I heard a lot of knitters l-o-v-e these little bags and I was (seriously) thinking about picking one up.  Unfortunately, when I saw it (I saw both a small and medium bags), it wasn't much to speak of (much less for the price of it!). :(  It was basically an expensive ripstop nylon bag with a small strap (that you can open and close) on the inside to hold your working yarn and a longer strap (that also opens and closes) on the outside so you can either strap it onto your wrist, the side of your purse, armchair, etc.  Basically, it was like a very small stuff sack. :( One of the ladies working at the store swore by it but, I simply couldn't bring myself to pick one up. :(  Bummer ... looks like I'll just have to keep looking for the "perfect" project bag or make my own bag(s) for my knitting project(s). :P

Then, we drove over to the Kamuela where we stayed at the Waimea Country Lodge.   It was really old but nice, clean, quite and very ... country ... no city lights around here! :P And, it was right next to Parker School which holds the Waimea Town Market (perfect because it starts at 7:30am!).  Because we had such a huge lunch, we decided to skip dinner on our first night there. 

The next day, we spent the morning at the Waimea Town Market to find Hawaiian Homegrown Wool where I picked up this:

Isn't it lovely?!  I can't wait to make a scarf with this one! :)  There was also some great food at the Town Market as well. :D  We had an amazing fresh from the oven turkey and cheese croissant, (another amazing) BLT (in which the B (for bacon) was really fresh cut from the pig - no Hormel bacon here!), and a great cup of Kona coffee (for my hubby).  I can't tell you how delicious it was ... just thinking about it makes me salivate! :P 

Next, we headed out to Topstitch in KTA Super Store Shopping Center in Kamuela (it's literally located right next to the KTA Super Store).  It's really a quilt shop with a small yarn section.  Interestingly enough, the yarn is from the Yarn Basket (in Hilo).  Since there was quite a small selection, I didn't pick up anything here as I was holding out to see what there was at the Yarn Basket.  Plus, they didn't have any accessories to tempt me to pick up either. :P

After Topstitch, we took a long but scenic drive to Honoka'a to check out Vera's Treasures where they sell Hula Bunny Yarn.  The drive was really nice; way nicer than the drive to Whistler.  You could see tons of ranch land (lots and lots of rolling hills), Mauna Kea and the ocean for most of the drive.  It was a really beautiful drive and day. :)  

Vera's Treasures is a quaint antique shop although they didn't have a whole lot of Hula Bunny yarn. :(  Since the yarn comes au naturale from the bunny, there were only three (3) colors: cream, dark grey, and light grey - bunny colors! :P  At $28 a pop for a skein of ~248 yards each (and I had no idea as to what to use bunny yarn for), I ended up not picking up anything (even though the yarn was soooooo soft!) :(

Then we finally headed out to Hilo to check out the Yarn Basket.  On the long drive to Hilo, what we found the most interesting thing was ... the speed limit signs.  We'd see a sign that says 40 MPH maximum and about fifty (50) feet later, we'd see another sign that say 55 MPH, then about another fifty (50) feet after that, another sign that say 40 MPH maximum.  This went on for miles and miles.  It was so weird. :P

We finally hit Hilo and after getting a little lost, found the Yarn Basket (oddly enough, it's also located at the Hilo KTA Super Store Shopping Center).  It's the oldest store on the Big Island.  It's been there for about thirty (yup, I said 3-0) years and it was crammed from floor to ceiling with yarn and accessories.  They've been in business so long that they had a lot of NOSs (new old stock).  They also carried some Hawaiian Homegrown Wool but, since I already bought some from them directly at their booth at the Waimea Town Market, I decided to be safe and pick up some stitch markers (since I've managed to break half of my super cheap ones already) and not more yarn (my supervisor was with me after all :P):

I even (inadvertently) bought another cable needle.  For some reason, I spaced out and thought I didn't get this one only to realize later (much too late), that I had bought the same one during my I Love Yarn Day Yarn - Oahu Yarn Crawl! :(  Oh well, it can't hurt to have an extra cable needle, right? :P

Since we were in Hilo, we ate lunch at Cafe 100 (this is the Big Island's version of Zippy's.)  They're known for their loco mocos so, that's what we had for lunch:  a turkey loco moco for Hubby and a bacon (yeah, I wan't getting enough bacon that day) loco moco for me. :)  Hubby was amazed ... in all the time we've been together (and we've been together a long time), he's never seen me eat a loco moco (as it's not my favorite local dish).  So, how was it?  Well, ... the food was ... ok (although I like Zippy's better). :P

We spent the rest of the day leisurely takimg pictures and checking out Hilo town, including visiting Rainbow Falls and Hilo Bay Books, a local used book store (although it was more like a regular bookstore than a used bookstore) before heading back to Kamuela.  Oddly enough, on our way back to Kamuela, the speed limit signs were normal and weren't set fifty (50) feet apart from each other! :P  We also decided to take the "scenic" route back (it was only four (4) miles long) and discovered that it wasn't scenic at all.  Hubby said that he's never going to listen to me about taking "scenic" routes from now on unless he can check it out on Google Maps before we take it. :P lol :)


Then, we decided that we'd go to the Big Island Brewhaus for dinner.  However, when we tried to pull into the driveway, we discovered that they were closed for renovations (for just that day)! :(  Poor hubby ... he was really bummed because he really wanted to try out their beers. :(  As a consolation prize, we went to KTA and got a poke bowl and a bottle of local wine for dinner.  At least the poke bowl and wine was pretty good. :) 

On our last day, we had breakfast at Hawaiian Style Cafe in Kamuela (at the recommendation of the hotel lobby clerk) before heading back to Kona.  OMG ... the cafe served the largest portions ever!  And it was also the best meal we had the whole time we were there! :)  Hubby had a chicken katsu loco moco (to make up for his mediocre turkey one) and I had a smoked pork omelet (yup - just couldn't get enough pork! :P).  It was a good thing that we decided to get there early in the morning (like around 8-ish) because by the time we left (like around 9-ish), there was a l-o-n-g line waiting to get in. :)

Then, we headed back to Kona to actually check out Kona town (it's really more like being in Waikiki; I'm glad we didn't end up staying there), do more picture taking, visit a local coffee farm (in which we met the sweetest kitty and saw the furriest chicken (ever)), and checked another coffee place before heading home. :)

It was a great and relaxing trip! :)  While we did go around a bit, we also had a lot of R&R time which we really needed. :)  I'm so glad that I was able to visit the few other yarn shops we have in our state (now, I know what we really have out here).  And, I really am so lucky to have such a sweet and loving hubby (who has ulterior motives to taking me on a yarn crawl :P). :)  I'm definitely looking forward to my next yarn crawl - in Japan next year! :P

Seetaa no Monogatari Part 4

Up-date: I got to about 6.5 inches (a total of 51 rows, including the collar) before class ... 

Then for our last class, it was all about show and tell and lessons learned.  Only one of my classmates showed up and she had a beautiful sweater coming along. :)  She even made it to dividing up for the sleeves and body! :)  I was envious! :P  Another of Kim's regular also was there and from November 1st, she made nearly 9 inches of her sweater!  She said that she had made more but had to rip out 4 inches because her sleeves were coming out funky.  It was amazing to see how much she did!   I've been at this for four (mark it, 4!) weeks and at most, I've only got 6.5 inches!  (Ok, if you count all the inches I ripped out and so forth, I might have more but seriously!  You can only count what's really there so, I've only got 6.5 inches! :'( :P)  

Then, it was finally time for my show and tell and ... while I clearly understood what I needed to do, how to do it and know what it should look like (as I could clearly articulate the issue(s) and associated resolution(s) for other people's sweaters during their show and tell), I didn't do that for my own sweater! *sob*! :'(

Here's what my sweater looked like by the time I got to class:

Not bad, right?  Seems to look ok, right?  But, see these parts:

That was the part in which I started doing my "math" (in Part 3.5).

So what's wrong with it, you ask?  Well, basically - everything! :(  It's not suppose to look like this.  It's suppose to look more like the upper portion of the sweater and it doesn't!  After talking to everyone and then telling my tale, here's my lessons learned:

1. Pay Attention!!  Truth be told, I was having soooo much fun going in the round that often times, I had forgotten to increase when I should have or worse yet, increase on one side and completely and obliviously forget to do it on the other side. :(  I was totally in the knitting zone and completely (and literally) zoned out! :P  And, because of this, that's why (while you can't see it), at one point, I was forcing my sweater to have the same number of stitches on each side (both in the body and the sleeves).  Thus, skewing the sweater.
2. Have a method.  By the time I created a method for myself to remind me which row to increase (or simply go in the round), it was too late. :(  I needed use a method to remind me to increase (or not) immediately after I did the first six rows (for the rolled collar), not many, many stitches and rows later, when it's too late. :P
3. Increase my body and sleeves together.  You may not have noticed it but, I wasn't always increasing my body and sleeves together (in the same row).  As you saw from my chart in Part 3.5, I tried to increase my sleeves with the body but, didn't necessarily increase it with every increase I did for the body.  Hence, skewing it further.  Plus, I think it was further off then it really should've been because it was already off to begin with! :P
4. Do the Math. Now that I know what my row gauge is and how to calculate how much I need for my body and sleeves (for when I'm ready to split them off), I also know that I can't simply increase every other round and then try to figure out (as I get closer to dividing out the sleeves and body) how many rows I need to go in the round before I increase again.  

So, what happens now?  Well, I need to rip everything out.  Yup, you heard me - I need to start over (again).  I also need to do the math and figure out which rows I need to increase on and which rows I need to simply go in the round.

I couldn't quite bear ripping just quite yet so, I decided to work on the math first:

1. I need to (re-)cast on 126 stitches, of which, 46 stitches are for the body (on each side, with a total of 92 stitches for the body), 15 stitches are for each sleeve and I have 4 seam stitches.
2. I know that the total stitches needed for the body to be 181 and 55 stitches for each of the sleeves.  So, the real work is to calculate at which row I'll get to the correct number of stitches for either the sleeves or the body, whichever comes first.  At a total of 181 stitches, that means, I need a total of 89 stitches or 45 stitches on each side.  For the sleeves, I need to add a total of 40 stitches for each sleeve.
3. Since I know that I knit 8 rows to create one (1) inch, then to make a total of seven (7) inches (which I need before I can see if I can divide the body and sleeves), I need a total of 56 rows.  I also need to make sure that my gauge remains consistent at 5.25 stitches per inch.
4. So, here's what I'm thinking I need to do:

 for the Body                       Sleeves
M1 = total sts added 4    M1 = total sts added 2    => Row 1
K 2x (Knit in the round 2x)                                      => Row 2-3
M1 = total sts added 8    M1 = total sts added 4    => Row 4
K 2x                                                                        => Row 5-6
M1 = total sts added 12  M1 = total sts added 6    => Row 7
K 2x                                                                        => Row 8-9 *check gauge!
M1 = total sts added 16  M1 = total sts added 8    => Row 10
K 2x                                                                        => Row 11-12
M1 = total sts added 20  M1 = total sts added 12  => Row 13
K 2x                                                                        => Row 14-15
M1 = total sts added 24  M1 = total sts added 14  => Row 16
K 2x                                                                        => Row 17-18
M1 = total sts added 28  M1 = total sts added 16  => Row 19
K 2x                                                                        => Row 20-21
M1 = total sts added 30  M1 = total sts added 18  => Row 22
K 2x                                                                        => Row 23-24
M1 = total sts added 32  M1 = total sts added 20  => Row 25 *check gauge!
K 2x                                                                        => Row 26-27
M1 = total sts added 36  M1 = total sts added 22  => Row 28
K 2x                                                                        => Row 29-30
M1 = total sts added 40  M1 = total sts added 24  => Row 31
K 2x                                                                        => Row 32-33
M1 = total sts added 44  M1 = total sts added 26  => Row 34
K 2x                                                                        => Row 35-36
M1 = total sts added 48  M1 = total sts added 28  => Row 37
K 2x                                                                        => Row 38-39
M1 = total sts added 52  M1 = total sts added 30  => Row 40
K 2x                                                                        => Row 41-42
M1 = total sts added 56  M1 = total sts added 32  => Row 43
K 2x                                                                        => Row 44-45
M1 = total sts added 60  M1 = total sts added 34  => Row 46
K 2x                                                                        => Row 47-48
M1 = total sts added 64  M1 = total sts added 36  => Row 49 *check gauge!
K 2x                                                                        => Row 50-51
M1 = total sts added 68  M1 = total sts added 38  => Row 52
K 2x                                                                        => Row 53-54
M1 = total sts added 72  M1 = total sts added 40  => Row 55
K 1x                                                                        => Row 56

Check to see if the sweater fits and is ready to divide for the sleeves and body.  Put in a life line!!

If so, divide for the body and add the seam stitches to the body count = 2 sts => 74 total sts added.


This should get me a total of 7 inches needed and get me close to the total stitch count needed for the body ((46 * 2 = 92) + 74 = 166) and the sleeves (15 + 40 = 55).  I think I can add the remaining stitches I need for the body (181 - 166 = 15-16 stitches) to the side (like a gusset).

I'm going to fly this by Kim to see if I'm calculating this correctly and start ripping. :)  I think I'll be having a lot more Seetaa no Monogatari Parts than I expected. :P  Oh well ... I'm going to have a very well fitting sweater at the end of this adventure (although I'm not entirely confident that I can actually finish it this month at this juncture)! :D  At the very least, I'm probably going to meet the NaNoSweMo challenge of completing 50,000 stitches this month at the rate I'm going!  I think I might've done about 10,033 stitches already with what I've done and all that stuff I ripped out and put back! :P  Let's just hope that this is the last ripping I need to do! :P lol :)

Seetaa no Monogatari Part 3.5

Well, Kim e-mailed me back and ... I had to rip back my sweater to the 4 inch mark (which was a good thing anyways because I didn't like the original look on how I had initially increased everything). :(

So, here's what happened:
I checked with Kim about my gauge and that ended up being fine.  Then, Kim asked me if I had divided up for the sleeves and body yet.  I said no and proceeded to count the stitches out to see if I were to divide things up how many stitches I currently have.  What I discovered was ... I had too many stitches! *yikes*   So .... Kim "gently" recommended to me that I might want to consider ripping out what I had and recalculate how many rows I really did need to increase (instead of going hog wild and increasing every other row like I had been doing).  Hence, ripping ensued! :P

Then I spent an evening figuring out my recalculation:
I started with a total of 126 stitches in which I divided up the body for 46 stitches on each side, the sleeves for 15 stitches on each side and 4 seam stitches; and I've completed a total of 24 rows at the 4 inch mark (in which I was increasing for a total of 12 rows), so ... I had a total stitch count of:
Body: 71 stitches on each side
Sleeve: 40 stitches on each side
8 rows = 1 inch

I need a total of 181 stitches (total) for the body and 55 stitches (each) for the sleeves.

Thus, to get to my total (required) stitches for the chest and sleeves, I would need to do the following:
 for the Body                       Sleeves
M1 = total sts added 4    M1 = total sts added 2
K (in the round 1x)          K 3x
M1 = total sts added 8
K
M1 = total sts added 12  M1 = total sts added 4
K                                     K 3x
M1 = total sts added 16
K
M1 = total sts added 20  M1 = total sts added 6
K                                     K 3x
M1 = total sts added 24
K
M1 = total sts added 28  M1 = total sts added 8
K 2x 
M1 = total sts added 30  M1 = total sts added 10 
K 2x                               
M1 = total sts added 32  M1 = total sts added 12
K 2x
M1 = total sts added 36  M1 = total sts added 14
K 2x
M1 = total sts added 40  Add the seam stitches to the sleeve count =
                                       2 sts on each side (total sts added 16)

Thus, this should get me back to the total of 7 inches needed and get the correct total stitch count needed for the body ((71 * 2 = 142) + 40 = 182) and the sleeves (40 + 16 = 56) - eh, close enough! :P

So, as of this posting, I've got to about 6 inches before I lost my note on which row to increase or do a regular round (which prompted me to put my "note" on a much more secure place - like this blog! :P).  Here's what it looks like now:

(Kim likes to say "Knit like the wind!" at the end of her blog posts.  Instead of knitting like the wind, I've been knitting more like a fiend (instead of the wind) so I can get in enough rows in time for class!  :P And, nearly had a stroke when I lost my note! :P)

I hope to be able to hit the 7 inch mark before class and start dividing the stitches up in time for my last class. :)  Wish me luck! :)