lol, I am loving this thread!
Russ, you are making fantastic progress! What a star! Don't worry about the extra stitches; that happens to us all. When you get to knitting where it matters, just knit two together to lose one whenever you realise you have acquired an extra one
For now, don't worry, just keep on practising. And writing about it !
Ellie, I feel for you! I had the same experience knitting my first 'fancy' (a few YOs and SSLs) shawl. At the time I finished it (and it's not much bigger than a neck warmer, really), we were working out how to price handmade goods. One person said you charge materials plus £1/hour. So I said, "Oh, well if I sell this shawlette, that'll be £16 for the yarn and um... calculating... £1000 !!"
It uses about 400 yds of yarn; I reckon I knitted 3 miles!!
And yes, a big problem is that the stitch markers 'travel', especially over yarnovers. I think what I do now is
always have my stitch marker
before the yarnover on the knit row where I make the yarnover, then when coming back on the purl row, be aware that I should come to the yarnover first, followed by the stitch marker. If I hit the stitch marker
before the yarnover, I know it's 'travelled' and I can pull the yarnover loop through and purl it
before transferring the stitch marker. (Hope that made sense, shout if not and I'll write it up step-by-step.)
Another tip is to have stitch markers only just big enough for the needles; it has to have enough room for you to be able to transfer it from one to the other, of course, but the less extra space there is the less likely it is to 'travel'.
If they're still being naughty, you can make individual removable stitch markers using bits of sewing cotton or yarn wrapped
around the stitch
before where you would put the stitch marker, and tied. Leave these in until you finish the garment, then just untie or cut and remove.
Good luck! We'd hate for you to have to leave the country or adopt a new identity because you can't face your knitting group again! lol