Hello all! My Sunrise Circle has begun!

I have to say, I was very worried about the pattern. Line by line, inch by inch, there's an instruction. So many potholes, so many opportunities for things to go horrible awry. But, then I found you, and my concerns were alleviated when I saw several finished jackets, with very pleased, satisfied owners wearing them. The postings are curse-free, and everyone seems to be having a good knit. So, I cast on. And, where my friends, did things go awry for me? Of course - gauge.

Because I'm a remedial gaugist, I had a friend check my gauge for me - and, even though I'm a loose knitter, she had me go up 2 needle sizes, and said, you're good to go girlfriend. I trusted her, and cast on, in my favorite, Silk Garden, of course, and began to knit. The first time (oh, yes, ripping is coming) I didn't pay any attention to how I was going to hem the thing, I just followed along, creating a turning row for sewing later. Then, about 20 rows up the sleeve, I realized I was knitting not a sleeve, but a nose warmer for an elephant. It was huge! So, out it came, and I began to swatch on my lonesome.

Like my attempt at a Silk Garden Suit (which ended up becoming a Rambling Rows blanket because of my eternal hand cramp from being on an way too small needle), I ended up on 3's - my gauge was close, but not perfect. This time, before blindly casting on, I considered the hem, and I thought, hem, I do not want to sew thee. So, I did a crochet cast-on, and knitted up the hem:
and once again, I traveled up the sleeve, taking some time at some point to pin it out, and make sure I was getting the right measurement - across. When I finished the increasing on the sleeve the instructions said I should be at 13 inches - I was only at 9. Row gauge - ouch - so off! I continued knitting, thinking I would block out the problem, by then I got to the raglan, and I pondered. With my row gauge I would be lucky to have a trapezoid, let only a nice pie shape. So with a sigh, I ripped again (not the hem, though, no need to do that again, that can just be a tad smaller), and now I'm traveling along on 5's, and things, cross your fingers, seem to be ok!

Hopefully, I'll have more to show you soon. You may have noticed that my color choice doesn't really seem to be a sunrise - but, wait until you see how the colorway knits up - at some point, there's going to be a rusty pink like color followed by a vibrant mustard - voila - a sunrise!