RE: Top-down cardigan experiment - progress so far :)
I think I knit slowly :-D So I am not a reliable timing source.... But I am happy you also like the top-down method. It is so convenient. You can try on the sweater and it is nearly finished, when the knitting is done. And the possibilities to change details are endless.
With the moss stitch it is as you described, it is the movement of the fingers indifferent of the needles. The finger problem is one reason I changed from crochet to knitting and from "normal" western knitting to combination knitting. I think I simply must limit the time knitting and stick to "softer" patterns :-)
I also like the appearance of garter stitch but find the fabric a bit too dense and stretchy. Nevertheless, I have two cardigans completely in garter stitch and love them.
I timed myself knitting the very longest rows on the yoke - the last increases: each one took between 20-25 minutes, so six hours is probably an under-estimate 😍. But still, it is growing more quickly than many things I have I knitted.
I tried on the yoke last night. Some parts fitted perfectly but I may have too much stuff under the arms. It was a little hard to tell, perhaps it will look different when the sleeves are knitted. I am going to buy some circulars with a longer cable, that will speed up the time preparing the yoke for fitting 😎
I was also struggling with the joining the front and back under the arms. It looks a little messy and I'm wondering how to avoid a hole between the body and the sleeves. At least it is partially hidden!
One problem I often have with top-down constructions is, that I often miscalculate the width of the sleeves... perhaps this maybe your "too much stuff under the arms". Mostly my sleeves and with this the sleeve opening are too wide. But I have no idea why this so often happens.
With the joining under the armpit... this problem does not occur in my sweaters, but I have often read about it. A hole at this point seems to be a common problem.
https://thebrownstitch.com/2010/06/11/the-great-underarm-divide-part-ii/
But I am not sure if this is the problem you mean.
How did you close the underarm? I normally cast on 4 up to 10 stitches and later pick up even more stitches for the sleeves. Meaning, if I casted on 4 stitches for the underarm join, I pick up about 8 stitches in this area for the sleeves. (Perhaps this is also written in the above link, I am not sure, I only remembered the text, but I did not read it again :-DD)
Sorry, I am writing a bit confuse...
The longer cable is perfect for trying on. I mostly use addi click and these needles have a connector to elongate the cables. I also put the sleeve stitches on cables instead of scrap yarn, so that I later only must click on the needles (I am soooo lazy :-DD)
Mmm, it just looks like there is too much fabric bunched up under the arms. I found this picture on ravelry which seems quite generous to me under the arms, so maybe it is okay:
I didn't add any stitches between the front and back, it seemed to fit quite well anyway. Maybe I could use less stitches to start and add some underarm ones if needed next time. Let's see :)
I'm pleased with it so far, it looks lovely :)
I like the pattern in the picture, it seems to have solved the problem of the square neck line.
Yes, the blue cardigan is lovely (the variegated wool is beautiful) And with the neckline... The more advanced raglan patterns start with a very small stitch count for the fronts and increase the fronts in a certain ratio to the four raglan increases. Often at the half way of the yoke there are in addition to the front increases stitches casted on for the fronts to create a more rounded neckline (obviously not for the blue cardigan)
I am so curious how your cardigan will look in the end <3 <3
(and please be lenient, if I wrote things you already knew)