I have completed the first two phases and started on Phase 3.  The white yarn at the top is the middle of the  back of the neck and the giant safety pin at the bottom is the right collar as it wraps to the front.  On my needles is the shoulder shaping.

the shoulder shaping is a combination of decreases down the center-top of the shoulder and a large wedge of short rows that form the cup of the shoulder.

The only other time I've done short rows, is was a modification to a pattern to widen the bottom of my Helena.  I didn't even know to pick up my wraps when I did those "wrap and turn" short rows.  It's not too important on the Helena, since those short rows will be snuggled in the seam mostly.  But the short rows on Hemlock are shoulder-top and in-your-face.  They needed to be really really really ridiculously good looking.

The pattern suggests a modified Japanese short row method, but using yarn instead of pins.   I tried it, trusting that it would all work out and, well, it didn't.  The right edge was loosey goosey and the left edge looked good.  Then I did an experiment and tried different methods of picking up that loop when I came back down the row ... top down, under up, twist the loop ... they all provided inconsistent results.

What was bothering me the most was no knowing EXACTLY how to put that loop back on my needle.  I went to the Youtubes to find a definitive answer.

I didn't find a definitive answer ... even for Japanese short rows.  It seems that everyone just *knows* which way you put the loops back on your needles.  But, while I was there, I saw links to ...

... Cat Bordhi's "wrap, turn, and conceal" short row videos (wrap, turn, & conceal PART 1 wrap, turn, & conceal PART 2).  SO AWESOME.  No willy nilly loop pick ups; it's 100% "do it this way" goodness.

Just for kicks, I did some swatches for all the short row permutations I'd found (see swatch proof below).  Yep!  I liked Cat Bordhi's method the best.  Do you have a favorite short row method?  I'd love to know.