Lessons Learnt?

I've been knitting away lately at my Braid Hills cardigan (Kate Davies design).  All was going well.

The pattern is for top down sleeves - I've tried this method before but didn't like it - but I gave it another go.
The excellent thing about top down sleeves is that you can try on the work-in-progress to check the fit.  So why didn't I do this?

I was so eager to get on with it, that it wasn't until I was at the cuff of the first sleeve that I thought to try it on.  And yes, you've guessed it - the sleeve just wasn't right.  Far too tight - I don't have fat arms and I'd followed the pattern exactly but it felt like a straight-jacket on me.  So the sleeve was ripped out.

As the top down sleeve method was going well - I'd sorted out the tangle of needles and had a good rhythm going, I redid the sleeves using the same method, but added extra stitches.

You would think I would learn from my first mistake.  Yes I tried on the sleeves to check for tightness - all fine and dandy now - but what about length?  Too eager to finish to try on!!!

The cardigan is all finished but oh no!  The sleeves are too long!  I'm going to have to undo them - again!

Here's a photo of the current finished article as it is at the moment.  I need to work up the enthusiasm to do the alterations - at least I don't need to undo them by much - just back to before the cabling.

When I've redone the sleeves, hopefully I'll have a photo of me wearing it.  In the meantime, I think I've learnt my lesson!