I did finally manage to pick up the appropriate number of stitches (minus 1 because I can't count). It took a lot of picking up a stitch in every edge stitch and then randomly skipping here and there. I certainly can't help anyone else with theirs, or even replicate what I did, but it's done.

The difficulty with knitting on it now is that there are these floppy, bulky sleeves getting in the way. So in the picture I've got the sleeves "tied up" with a needle. That helps, but now I face the daunting increases for 20 inches to leave me with more stitches than I can count. Needless to say, it's a slooooooooow knit at this point. Which isn't too much of a big deal because I have no need for a sweater (even a non-wool one) in 90+ degree weather.