Trying To Get Into the Holiday Spirit

Picture from Craft Magazine

Trying to get in the holiday spirit by knitting up some great presents for a few unsuspecting folks for Christmas. I started off with a bang finishing a lovely scarf in a week...I have another scarf on the needles and I'm trying to chug out a few of these adorable sweater beer cozies, pattern by Melissa Martensen, while I'm at it.

Sadly, I'm already slowing down. Getting a tad frustrated with the beer cozy - my yarn is a little larger weight and I don't have the right sized needles so my cozy came out fitting a wine bottle and not a beer bottle - which works, but I want beer cozies (Christmas ideas)...I am on my second one and it is still fitting lose and I spaced the arms funny as I tried to lower the number of stitches to reduce the size - I ended up messing up the pattern - sigh. THAT and I don't quite get one part of the pattern - the Raglan Dec....here it is...

Raglan Dec:

Rnd 1: *k2tog, k to two sts before marker, ssk, slip marker, k1, k2tog, k to three sts before marker, ssk, k1, slip marker* rep from * to end of round.

Rnd 2: work in st st.

Repeat these two rounds three more times for a total of 32 sts decreased. You should now have 36 sts on your needles.

I think I've read it like 50 times, I still end up scratching my head by the time it comes to actually knitting this section. I don't get where Rnd 1 starts...maybe it is the in the section before that gets me confused...you are suppose to join the arms first... and I do, but then I finish the rnd...maybe I am supposed to back knit...I dunno. I don't get it...sigh. Does Rnd 1 start at where I joined the first sleeve?

Either way I did manage to finish one cozy - looks fine despite my confusion so I made it work somehow - but it just has me confuzzled.

I also want to figure out a way to hand embroider on some initials....hmmm?

(my picture of the proj. to come....not sure where the cord to the camera is)