Sighs of Relief

I finished the yoke of the sweater today.  All the sleeve shaping is done.  All of the neck shaping is done.  The nightmare is over.  With my revisions the body is 16" at the beginning of the hood.  I tried it on and it fit exactly the way I wanted it to fit.  It falls below my bust, it's not tight through the shoulders, and the ease is perfect.  I could sing (and I might).

Hallelujah.

I didn't end up working extra short rows through the shoulders because I was done with this sweater 8" earlier.  I had washed my hands of it.  The good news is it apparently doesn't need more shoulder if you simply knit enough back and bust.  Yesterday I was super angry about everything, so today I will make a list of good things about this sweater so far

1. The shape is wonderful--this is actually a pull-over, not a cardigan.  The button band is sewn up and the lower band is tacked down to form the romantic little shape.  I do love it, and that's why I wanted to make this thing in the first place.
2. The sleeves are good sleeves.  There is nothing wrong with them.  They are roomy and comfortable, with adequate shaping.
3. The yarn.  I haven't worked too much with Wool of the Andes, but if it's all like this and if it wears well, I would highly recommend it.  It splices like a dream, which is a weird thing to get excited about, but when you've spliced 8 balls without a hitch in the middle of a giant, sweater shaped hitch, it's stuff like that that gets you through.
4. Seamless shaping--even though it's notated wrong, the idea behind it is nice.  The sweater isn't exactly seamless because of the button band, but it's constructed that way and it was a nice lesson in bottom up raglan shaping.
5. This sweater has given me confidence in my ability to read, judge, and modify patterns as well as boosted my confidence regarding my imminent designing.  I have been meaning to start writing for myself for years, but haven't had the technical know how to do so.  I am now intimately familiar with gauge, with shaping, with lengths for arm holes, and the like.

Still--this thing is hoodless, so what is there to be done?  Well, let me show you:

That is my sweater.. sort of.  And that is my hood... sort of.  The neck is two squares flanking a trapezoid which increases with the skull's natural curvature (or the presence of my ponytail.  Take your pick).  After 8" or so, short rows are worked to compensate for the distance around the top of the head (see the nice squiggly line? that's short rows).  The sides are then brought in to the center 5" square and the cables, leaving only the cables and the center stitches.  The cables are worked in short rows to the center, grabbing a stitch from the center panel every time they pass it, then grafted together.  The goal is a round hood that is the same shape as the human head.  We'll see how it goes.

Wish me luck.  Right now I feel invincible, so this probably seems easier than it actually is...