I'm done! I cast off last Friday, blocked Monday, and today I tried it on!
I'm happy with the depth of the neckline and I think I could wear it without a tshirt under it. The sleeves are actually a bit too tight despite my trying to block them wider - which is ironic because I was worried that my gauge was too fat there. The rest of it fits nicely, however, and I think I could get away with just a camisole under it because the Palette yarn is softer to the touch than the real shetland.
I agree with whoever on Ravelry said they had a slight problem with pooching in front where the raglan seams meet the neckline - I think it is the nature of the way the pattern is put together, and it's not very noticeable when being worn.
I did two fewer rows of ribbing on the neckband because I was down to the last couple of yards of Garnet Heather and I was not about to order another ball! If you want to make ANY size other than 35 inch you will need two balls of Palette in that color.
If I were to do it again I would knit one more round with black before setting the neck steek, as I think it looks slightly odd to have the gold blend up into the neckband like that - it needs the extra row of black to finish off the horizontal band there. I might also make a size larger - I am kind of uninterested in floppy sweaters these days but I am afraid I will find it too slim once I get wearing it. It's supposed to be chilly here tomorrow, so I might try it out with just a camisole under it and see how it fits when worn that way.
I enjoyed this project a lot, and I made a TON of use of the charts that Debbie made - I took the time to make myself chart pages for the front body above the armholes so that I could map out my neckline decreases, and also for the sleeves. I couldn't have knit this half so comfortably if I was trying to use the book charts. Thanks Debbie!
