Help!!

I'm stumped. Totally and completely stumped. Unfortunately, I'm not only one of those people who refuses to ask for help... I'm also one of those people that refuses to give up until I've solved a problem. Also, you know how most instructions begin with "Read instructions/directions/pattern all the way through before starting"? I'm the type of impulsive, just want to get started, person that they write that for... but I never do.

Which leaves me here... at my wit's end.

Tulip is the first Rowan pattern I've ever knit and I can see that they clearly write their patterns with the assumption that the knitter knows how to knit. This is fine with me because, well, I assume I can knit.

Just like I assumed that once I seamed the shoulders and got to the section titled "Neck Trim", I was going to pick up the 312 stitches around the front and neck. So I painstakingly picked up 312 stitches (or about that) of the very splitty Damask and proceeded to knit back and forth. On about the 4th row, I decided to look ahead in the instructions. Hmmm.... why were they talking about picking up stitches again? And, if the armhole trims are supposed to be done with the smaller needles, wouldn't that mean that the neck.... Uh Oh!

Time to back up and read. Oh... for the neck trim I'm supposed to cast-on 312 stitches on a size 3 needles... not pick up. Yeah... got it. Rrrriiippp. Cast-on 312... proceed with 7 row "ruffle".

Okay, I now have a 312 stitch long ruffle on a size 3 circular ending on a live wrong side (purl) row and I am supposed to do this... "Holding RS of fronts and back in front of WS of trim sts and beg and ending at beg of front slope shaping, pick up and knit 134 sts up left front slope, 44 sts from back, then 134 sts down right front slope , working each st through edge and through sts of trim. Cast of knitwise."

Huh??????

I mean, I get the general idea... (see)

it's just the physical execution that has my mind boggled. I've tried and tried and tried. I now have the "ruffle" divided between 2 circulars so I could stretch out the first 134 stitches up the side so I'd at least get it on even. And I have an extra needle, to go along and pick up the stitches which I assume I'm supposed to use the working yarn from the ruffle for... but HOW???? What I have is a mess.

Does anyone have a clue what I'm even trying to say? Can you help??

Well, at least I had those 2 neck & neck baseball games that ran late, followed by the opportunity to return home with 5 boisterous, cranky, hungry, dirty boys and prepare dinner at 9pm while they argued over who had the best game, who made the biggest error, who was going to get the first shower, and what channel the TV would be on. Otherwise I might be feeling a bit stressed right about now.

Like I said... "Help!!"

ETA: The good news: I think I've got it figured out. "Think" being the key word here.

The bad news: If I had known in the beginning I would've done a much neater job on the front panel decreases since they are not hidden as I had "assumed".

More good news: Everyone has gone to bed.

Bad news: I can't find the remote control... am too tired to move... and just realized that I've been watching ESPN for the last half hour. By myself.

sigh