Bag o' Crap

I was working on the pinwheel sweater last night and ran into a little problem. I don't understand what the hell the pattern is telling me to do. It makes no sense to me. It's quite frustrating since this is the first time I've had an issue with a written pattern. I know it can't be that difficult and I don't understand why I'm not grasping the concept. I know how to do a provisional cast on but the directions of the pattern in my opinion are not good. I love the design. I guess you get what you pay for on free patterns. Here is the part that is giving me fits, the pattern says:

knit the first set of 18 stitches and the yo from the round before, place
the second set of 18 stitches on a holder, join a new ball of yarn and cast on
18 stitches using a provisional cast on - see below for provisional cast on
instructions (this will be the sleeve later),

Provisional cast on:Using a crochet hook, a knitting needle, and a
contrasting colour yarn, make a slip knot.Put the crochet hook through the slip
knot and hold in front of needle.Bring yarn around the needle, from left over
top of needle behind the needle then over the hook and make a stitch (the yarn
around the needle is the stitch).Repeat this until 18 stitches on the
needle.Slip these stitches onto the stitch holder.These stitches will become the
stitches for the other half of the armhole when needed.

Yes I knit the first 18 stitches. (Am I supposed to create a yo?) I put the second set of 18 stitches on a holder. I created a provisional cast on with a contrasting yarn. What am I supposed to do with the provisional cast on? It says to join yarn. What yarn? the contrasting yarn? the original yarn? Am I supposed to knit stitches on the provisional cast on or just slip them like the pattern suggests? I did a search and others have had issues with this particular part of the pattern. One blog went and gave her work around. I think I'm so frustrated I'm having a hard time figure out her work around. Right now I think I'll put it away until my blood pressure goes. LOL!

In other news, Woot.com was having a woot off. My mom was kind enough to give me a call to let me know. I was so close to getting a bag of crap. I had it in my cart and everything. Unfortunately, I had to create an acct since it was my first time buying from them and their servers crashed. SUCK-0! I really wanted a bag o'crap. Like I don't have enough bags of crap around here. I told Rob I should start my own bag of crap. I would just go around the house and fill the bag with random stuff and mail it off. Rob suggested our site could be toot.com. I don't think we'll actually do it though. :)

We had a butter incident today. I heard my niece wake up from her nap and went to get her. In the time I was gone, Miss V managed to grab a small bowl of butter that Rob put on the counter today. She quickly (had to be quickly since I was gone maybe 1-2 minutes at the most) ate and spread the butter all over the slipcover of the sofa. The sofa is slipcovered for a reason. It has seen it's better days and has been abused by too many other children. I have washed the slipcover and can only hope that all the butter stains are out of it.


We had parent's night at school tonight to find out all the fun things that our dd will be looking forward to learning and experiencing in her first grade class. I really like her teacher and think dd is in for a great year. I'm very thankful that Oma came over tonight to take care of the girls while we were gone.


And finally our a/c is leaking. We were hoping our temporary fix of the condenser unit would last till the fall but it does't seem to be the case. We are looking at having to shell out quite a chunk of change to get it all changed out. Please keep us in your thought. I think a part-time job is in my future.