Saw this on IG and had to share so I can come back to it and remember.
Nancy Ricci is knitting a sweater that is written to be knit from the bottom up, but she prefers top down. So she started with sleeves and a provisional cast on for the body, worked the yoke, and is now in full control of the placement of waist shaping and overall length.
I think I’d take it one step further. Use a provisional cast on for the upper sleeve, and then you’ll have full control over sleeve length, too. Karen Templer of Fringe Association wrote about it in her post here.
Brilliant plus brilliant equals 2xBrilliant! Or is that Brilliant squared?
I’d mash all this up for the next sweater. Unless it’s a third Stopover. After knitting two, I already know the length and shaping. Yes, I’m still thinking about a third one (charcoal gray with a rainbow color pops), but it wouldn’t happen until fall, if at all. Spring is just around the corner, and there are visions of shawlettes dancing in my head!
Would you go to these lengths to get your sweater just right?
PDXKnitterati 
Absolutely ………….if it doesn’t fit right (comfortably), it is NEVER going to get worn. YOUR sweaters are beautiful!!!!
That’s an interesting way to do it. Though I think there might be a slight visual cue where you picked up and knit in the other direction.
I usually just rewrite the pattern to work top down (increases instead of decreases) but this does require less fiddling.
I thought that switching directions and being a half stitch off would show, but I tried it on a swatch and it didn’t show at all!
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In a field of single-colour stockingette, it doesn’t generally show at all, as long as your tension stays consistent. I’ve done essentially this a bunch of times on socks. Sometimes I want to maximize the height of the socks, but I hate doing the feet toe-up, so I do a provisional cast on, knit an inch or so of leg, do the foot as standard, then come back up and do the leg. You can’t tell at all — unless you find the slightly bulkier spot where the extra ends are woven in.
That would make me happier with socks! I don’t like to kitchener toes, and I’m never sure where to place the heel when I’m knitting toe-up. I usually make the foot too long, make the heel, and then have to frog back a whole bunch. Meh.
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