7/2: Ok, so I struggled with picking up the stitches along the border and thought I would try to describe how I did it. First of all it says in the directions to not pick up the slipped stitches. This is because it will not give you enough stitches, you have to pick up 336 and I could get about half of that. So I picked up the bars between the slipped stitch and the next stitch which allowed me to get 336 (see photo.) The challenge with this is that I couldn’t pick up stitches before casting on. So I placed a stitch marker at the half way point then counted 168 in each direction and placed stitch markers. Then I picked up and knit the first WS row as directed. This made a beautiful transition from the top border to hounds tooth pattern. I hope this helps as I fought with this for awhile.

6/30: The hounds tooth section threw me for a loop for a few rows and I considered ripping it out but then I went back and took the time to compare the pattern to my knitting I was FINALLY able to figure it out, now I’m going strong!

6/29: I finished the Top Border Strip today, now to get started on the houndstooth section. I love running this through my fingers, it feels delicious.