Casting off, take #2

Yesterday after finishing off the Italian cast-off, when I couldn't get the turtle neck over my head, I thought I knew what the problem was. I thought as I didn't have much yarn leftover that I had sewn the finish too tightly. To explain this a bit further, casting off this way requires you to knit the last 4 rows on a smaller needle size (0.5mm smaller, to be precise) and then to finish off by sewing the remaining stitches. This results in a smooth, rounded edge, unlike the usual cast-off.
Okay, so I un-sew the finish, tinked the last 4 rows and re-knitted them with the ball of yarn I had left (fortunately, there is plenty of yarn left of the ball as I didn't use this color much. For sewing, though, I had to cut the yarn). So far, so good. I was almost done with these 4 rows when I tried stretching the stitches on the needle and it was... not so good. Too tight. Damn! So, even more tinking last night, and hopefully some more relaxed re-knitting tonight. Stay tuned for more Italian adventures!