I've completely frogged the peacock sweater and started all over again.  Meaning, for the five-bazillionth time.  And somehow, I'm as excited as I was the first time.

This photo, from my last peacock sweater post, artfully showed off the kick ass sleeve I made, but I sneakily downplayed the mistakes that were becoming apparent in the rest of the sweater as I went along.

Namely, that the V-neck was becoming too deep and the back of the neck was half way to my shoulder blades.  The issue is that the weight of the sweater was pulling the stitches down, stretching them out.

Here you can see the super-low dip in the back neck as well as the worst problem of all: the wide-set arm holes.  The arrows show you how the armholes are half way down my biceps.

There are two separate problems. First, I didn't completely understand arm hole shaping.  I've spent a lot of time looking at the armholes of shirts and sweaters since February and I understand now why pattern pieces have that weird point at the bottom of the armhole ... because your arm is round and the hole needs to wrap around it.

Second, the stitch pattern I'm using is very bunchy, but easily stretches out ... especially when there's several more rows of crochet pulling on it.  I should have blocked it before I measured it for gauge.  I planned the pattern as if the motif was 2.75 inches tall, but they are actually 3 inches tall when blocked (or stretched).

Would this be the right moment to admit that I've never, in my whole life, blocked something?  Never ever.  I guess I've never really needed to yet.  In this case, I definitely needed to.

How about this craziness?  The unblocked piece on the left has one more row than the blocked piece on the right.  I've completely re-charted the pattern.

Get ready for the next gen Peacock Sweater!  The one that fits!  

Do you have any tips for blocking a seamless sweater?  I thought it might crush the post stitches to lay it on a towel.  Would putting a towel on a hanger and then putting the wet sweater on the hanger work?  Come on, I know  you've got a brilliant idea about how to do this. :)