Back to the Future

Evergreen (finally, she has a name) is at a place where I need to devote some serious attention to swatching for the color work, but I haven't had time. To keep the momentum going, I've begun instead with the plain section at the top:


The neckline has come out exactly as I wished and I am delighted. By combining the shaping for a square neck with a v-neck, I've been able to create a more modest (and therefore more wearable) verson of the collar on the dress I posted about previously.


Here's a (not-very-good) close up of the short row shaping I used for the shoulders (oh, how I heart Barbara Walker. When you click, scroll down a bit for Knitting from the Top).
Basically, you cast on provisionally for the width of the back, then work short rows either side of the neck. This creates a lovely, smooth shoulder with no seams. Though I tend to work cotton sweaters in pieces for stability, this sweater will be fairly lightweight, and shouldn't have a problem.
Now back to swatching...