My brain is melting

So I finally got all the details on what my niece was looking for in a shrug. I never in my wildest dreams thought it would take so long to nail down these details, but when dealing with an active teenager and only talking through email, these things get drawn out A LOT!

While I'm holding out hope that my needles I ordered on eBay show up before we leave for our trip to the snowy north, I decided to cast on and get started using my two 16in needles. Suprisingly its going pretty well even with 264 stitches, but as I'm reading ahead through this pattern I feel like my brain is melting into a puddle. I'm sure (almost) that its just the fact that I'm tired, I'm trying to get things ready for dd's 1st b-day party tomorrow, working on Christmas ornaments and trying to nail down my to-do list for getting everything ready to go, which despite getting stuff done seems to grow every day, but I'm more than a little lost with the style of pattern writing. Hopefully it will all become clear as I continue, but 3 rows into it I suddenly began to panic thinking I was supposed to be looking at the rows for a different section and doing those instead of the mindless k9 rows that I thought I should be doing. This pattern is a bit odd compared to most of the patterns I've used before, but after all the pain (both physical and mental) and agony that I went through to get a green light on this project there is NO turning back!!!

In a day or two I hope to be reporting back to say that I have conquered the Shetland shorty, but we will see. Meantime, I'm happy to report I have 3 completely finished Christmas ornaments and am half done with the 4th. Only 8 more to go after that! Also finished the last minute hats for the twinfants. Still trying to figure out what to make their big sister. And debating on presents for my mom and sis, but anyway... Back to the knitting!