Joined!
I just put the sleeves on holders and joined my Rusted Root under the arms, hooray!
At this point, most top-down raglan patterns recommend knitting straight for several inches, until the fullest part of the bust, before starting decreases. I’m not entirely sure why this is, but on my favorite shirts, the sleeves join well above the fullest part of my chest. I know from personal experience that if I continued knitting as the sweater is right now, that I would get unflattering pulling across the chest, but had I continued with the raglan increases the arm holes would have been saggy.
I would have preferred to do short row bust shaping, but the lace panel would have made that a bit sticky. Instead I cast on a few extra stitches under each arm as I joined in the round. The extra stitches plus the built-in stretchiness of the lace panel should take care of it. I’ve got a few inches before I need to figure out the decreases, thank goodness, so now I’ll just enjoy the mostly-mindless knitting.
