Progress on the Cabled Bolero

Both sleeves seamed. Still a mystery as far as fit. It's an intellectual challenge: how to get my sweater to look like the cover of Vogue Knitting? Even with Norah Gaughan's assurances, I still want to believe that there's some modifications going on here.

My sweater: strange pentagons hanging off the front. Model: not so. My sweater: not so much a portrait neckline as a billboard neckline. Model: nicely fitted. My sweater: a strange relationship between the length of the sleeves and the fit across the bodice. Model: perfect.
On Project Runway, the designer literally sews the model into the garment much of the time. Not a realistic option here, as I'm on the last stages of the piece, but making me think that I should be stopping more often along the way, basting pieces together, and trying the sweater on as I'm working. Seamstresses do this all the time, why not knitters?

Some thoughts for the next go-around: go down at least one size in the pattern; use a finer yarn, something without the flying fuzz factor of angora and something that is not intended to keep you warm, because this sweater knits up very densely and will keep almost anyone warm just by virtue of the design (even me, and I'm always cold); decrease the number of pentagons, perhaps even doing away with the two at the front that seem unrelated to the horizontal effect of the rest of the pattern; lengthen the sleeves so that they really are elbow-length or even three-quarter; perhaps sew up side seams and then pick up for the sleeve, so that the fit through the shoulder and armhole is more tailored. Just some ideas, not gospel. But if they work for you, let me know before I start the second attempt.