12.29.12 Cast on 114, two strands held together. Doing nine stripes, 16 rows each.

1.7.13 Had to frog the whole thing -- couldn’t get myself out of a mess. I tried casting 100 onto size 13 needles because my kntting seemed tight on size 11, but this seems too loose and too easy for little fingers to get stuck in. Sigh. I’ve only done a couple of rows so I’ll frog this back to the cast-on and change to size 11s and try to knit a little looser. Baby shower is this Friday and I’ll never get done by then because I’m slow, but the baby isn’t due until Feb. 15 so hopefully by then I’ll be done!

1.10.13 Have now frogged three times. :-( But on the plus side, I’m much, much better at tinking stitches now! I don’t want to give up -- I love this pattern. I just need to concentrate more and not try to watch TV or talk to people while I’m knitting it until I get the hang of it. I ended up casting only 100 stitches this last time -- was worried I’d be short of yarn, especially the gray.

1.15.13 FINALLY at the halfway point. I am so slow.

1.22.13 Halfway through my seventh stripe! After this one I only have two more 16-row stripes to go. It has definitely gotten easier, and using stitch markers has made a HUGE difference. I followed the advice of jokulik and put markers between the two decreases and two increases on each side (used different colored markers for each side). This keeps the markers in the right place the whole time and has saved me from having to unknit so much.

1.28.13 Finished! I do wish I had cast on 114 stitches or 128, even, instead of 100. I was worried about running out of yarn but I had plenty. My blanket is between 22 and 23 inches wide, nowhere near 26 inches. I’m usually a loose knitter so this came as a surprise. It’s too narrow, I think, to give as a gift so I might use this as a learning project and give it to my daughter to use as a carseat blanket.