i HATE picking up stitches....

so....i hate picking up stitches....i hate it i hate it i hate it

loathe it even
yes, loathe is the right word for it....
but its a necessary evil....well for doing the sweater.....
so i did the neck
pattern called for picking up 130 stitches......i had 114, yet somehow ended up with 124...maybe i just miscounted the first time? but no, i picked up stitches as i was knitting....i wasn't about to rip it out and start again....i HATE it! its so annoying...maybe i just don't know how to do it right, i mean, that's a possibility....i'm still a newbie when it comes to this knitting thing....most, if not everything, i've knitting til now didn't require picking up stitches....something else did...i think the dog sweater...anywho
here's the neck....124 1x1 rib for roughly 1.5"

ok....so neck done...
i had already dealt with the annoyance that is picking up stitches for the arms....i have a big hole in the armpit somewhere...can't see it in the picture.....it'll take some clever weaving in to fix it....but i can do it....
here is the sleeve i have kinda half done already.....i'm close to the end of a skein so i decided to start the new skein on the neck and then use it for the arm....the huge open neck hole was bothering me, now i feel better
but yeah...so here's the sleeve so far that ive gotten done...and here's a better closer up of the armpit
so far so good i think....i'm pretty dern proud of myself for getting this much done at all.....granted its a week after the due date, but whatever....i thought maybe i could get it done for tonite, have him wear it nye, but, alas and alack...i have failed to reach yet another deadline.....but i didn't pick it up at all during the week except for last night, and i've been too busy at work to knit thru lunch....so whatever...
ok soooooooooooooooohere's what the total picture looks like so far
not bad if i do say so myself....

it doesn't look as big as it should on me for some reason...i mean its a men's xxl and technically i'm a men's l....but it really is just hanging on me like a shapeless sack....soooooooo i think it'll fit....i'm not too worried about it anymore.....i hope the neck is ok...maybe i shouldn't have done and inch and a half...i don't know...that too is roomy on me....he's got a big neck...

so as you can see, i have a sleeve and a half left to do...i have to decrease down to 56sts and i think i have 80something....not too much longer to go....uh yeah there is....double pointed needles drive me nutso....not to mention the shooting pain i get down my forearm....i definately knit toooo tight on those things....i try to losen up, but then the stitches slip off....and i'm using the bamboo because i feel it holds the yarn on better...i don't know...
wish me luck...i hope i finish it soon.....