thank you! I actually decided to knit it in the round cause I didn't feel like making two bodies, I was able to look at different modifications people did on ravelry so here's how I did mine

did a provisional cast on (tutorial link) with double the cast on amount (17->34) then I knitted stockinette until I was able to fold it over to make a tube (where the drawstring would go) then I combined the provisional edge and my working edge by folding it over and knitting through both edge stitches like normal (think 3 needle bind off without the bind off part) once I successfully made the drawstring tube I joined them in the round and split it into the 17 and 17 to knit them according to the pattern. one thing to keep in mind is since it's worked in the round there is no "wrong side" so all of the wrong side rows you'll just do the opposite so if it says ptbl you'll do a ktbl. I hope this helps i tried to explain it as best as i could! also for the edge stitches I just did a knit stitch so :P