I finally was able to get out in some good weather yesterday for a student pilot solo and applied all of the helpful tips here..it turns out I was spending 90% of the time looking at the attitude indicator (keeping "the dot" on the horizon) and the altimeter and glancing outside occasionally for the sight picture which was putting me "behind the plane" everytime.

I tried the double trim-wheel swipe, lining up the horizon on a fixed spot on the cowling, listening for the engine to determine climb/descend, and looking outside, looking outside, looking outside and it worked like a charm! Towards the end of the flight I was keeping altitude between +/- 20 feet or so everytime.

Thanks for the great advice

Mike