The Back Panel

Started the back panel, and I've finished the first skein of yarn.  for the record, here's what I did:

process was the same as the test run for the straps, with the two balls of yarn.  while working on it, realized I'd made a mistake.  While math-ing this, I was using my number of 10 rows per inch.  measured the finished front panel and got 9 rows per inch.  I figured if I just started my increases on the sides as soon as I had the straps joined that would make up for it.  once I had the straps joined I measured again and got 10 rows per inch, and realised I LEFT THE FRONT PANEL TO HANG.  you know, to test the stretch? so the 9 rows was after stretching.  which meant I needed to work in a few more rows to make sure this hit 10" long by the time it was 18" wide.  gah.  as a result, my increases seem a bit random  I also realised that 118 +20 is 138, not 128.  apparently I'm a moron.  which means I needed WAY less increases than I thought.  so much stress... add this to the fact that I'm consistently getting 6 sts to the inch, rather than 7, which is the number I based my math on, I was going insane.  I got it figured out though, and this is what I did.

one row after the join to solidify it.  piece was 4 1/2" long, about 11" across. I think. hard to measure ribbing.

inc one st on each side
plain row
plain row
increase
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
increase            <---- It was here I realized the length problem.  piece was 5 1/2" long.
plain  <---- one inch

plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain
plain  <--- two inches (eleventh row is extra to make up the length) 6 7/8" long

increase
plain
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain  <--- three inches   just shy of 8" long

plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain  <--- four inches. no need for an extra row. 9 1/8" long

increase 1 st on each side (to make sure we have a complete bar of ribbing)
plain
increase 2 sts on each side
plain
increase 2
plain
increase 2
plain
increase 2  <--- 10" long and 128 sts across.  my math said it should be 126 for gauge.  after carefully stretching across two needles, I believe I have it correct.

so you can see the increases were not evenly spaced because of my mistakes.  if I make this up into a pattern I'll refigure it just for neatness' sake.  the piece looks fine.  I'm just OCD.  now I'm to the point where I just knit straight down for forever.  and with this being 128 sts across, I do mean FOREVER.