Sweater coming along

The sweater I began last month is almost finished. All I have left are the sleeves, and I need some advice. First of all, as you can see in the above picture (click to enlarge), there are nifty side slits, which lie neatly on the model in the picture. But I was dismayed that both sides of mine curl right up. Note the heavy scissors I have laying across the bottom to keep it from turning up.

I went back to the yarn store and asked them about it, and the lady told me about blocking the sweater once I'm finished. I've never blocked anything before, but she assured me it would help, except for the unfortunate fact that the garter stitch is right in the crease of my lap when I'm sitting. Hmmm. She suggested that I turn it under and sew it down. I'm wondering what you knitters out there think.

I also decided to go ahead and make the sleeves three-quarter length rather than full length, since I notice that the most favorite sweaters I wear all the time have them. I'm going to do it and forget the pattern. Does anybody know about blocking? The sweater is 50% llama and 50% wool, which I'm told will take a wet block just fine. But I'm just not sure about getting a wool sweater wet and putting it in the shape I want.

You might also notice that halfway down the torso the variegated pattern of the yarn is slightly different. I suspect I didn't check the dye lots and got one with a little different color, but it's not too different and there's NO WAY I would tear it out to fix that!

The other thing, before I go, is that Lucy over at Secrets for Happiness gave me an award, and I'd like to acknowledge her and say (blush) thanks so much for thinking of me! I received the award earlier from AL, and I'll add Lucy's name here and tell you why I am not going to send it along to others, if you read this post that answers the questions that the blog rules ask for.

I think I'll be done with the sweater soon, especially since I'm going to shorten the sleeves. It does fit, and I'm looking to use the leftover yarn (quite a lot of it) to learn how to felt, since apparently this type of yarn is truly magnificent when felted. I think I'll try mittens if I can find the right pattern.

Tomorrow I'm heading off to Seattle to see the Flower Show for this year. Last year's show was supposed to be the final one, but somehow another one popped up. I had a great time then, and I'll be sharing with you my pictures and the whole event!
:-)