I finally get it...

I only had to frog Branching Out two times, but I've now finished two repeats (something like 25 to go) and it's looking pretty good. It won't be blocked until it's done, so my version looks nothing like Knitty's (unless you squint really hard). I even discovered a place where I'd twisted a stitch and was able to fix it in the next row (phew!). So, I think there may be more lace in my future when I'm done with the Knitting Olympics. ;-)

Here's my progress so far: