progress! and finally a picture!

I made it to the neckline placket!
I know for my size it said "at 13 inches" but...I may have slightly less than 13. But it's okay, I'm short, and I've heard that the combination of the yarn and the stitch pattern means the piece grows significantly on blocking.

I was doing so well up 'til now with following directions. Well...I did do the decreases on the sleeve differently - I waited until around the elbow to work most of the decreases, then worked them slightly faster, so the sleeve was more fitted to my arm.
But anyway, I tend to not-quite follow directions for things. I always end up making adjustments or modifications.

Where this tangent is going:
I was none too fond of the idea of working two different rows of the stitch pattern at once on each row, plus sometimes working the pattern starting with the RS and sometimes with the WS (aka sometimes doing two purl rows in a row!) so instead of placing the placket 59 stitches in, I made it the eight stitches before the beginning of the round.

However this led to some alarming math...I'm knitting the 36" Thermal. 252 stitches.
252 / 2 yields 126 stitches for the front and 126 for the back.
Subtract 8 (the number of stitches initially bound off for each underarm) gives 118, the number initially given for the back, but the pattern calls instead for 110 on the back and 126 on the front (minus the 8 for the placket that is) but why would it be uneven? That makes no sense to me...
so instead here's my plan:
When I get to the armpits (armscye? I can't remember how to spell the fancy word...don't judge me!) I'll knit across 55 in pattern (the ...left front? right front? I can't remember), bind off 8, knit across the 118 of the back in pattern, bind off 8, and go across the last 55.

I haven't yet decided if I'm going to work all three pieces of the top of the sweater at once or seperately.

But either way once I get to the armpits I'm putting the body down and knitting the second sleeve. Otherwise I might be inclined to have a one-sleeved thermal, haha.
Well, probably not. But who knows.