It's done!
I finished this last night, and it looked awful - every bit as bad as my first effort, and it came up just as short and lumpy.
This is a moment that I wish I had taken a 'before' picture - although my previous effort looks quite similar. It looked very short - although pulled down long due to the large needles, and the top of the yoke stood up in great lumpy mounds.
I thought I may as well finish it, and crocheted round the hem and the neckline, but still no better. Then I remembered that you could block you knitting to achieve a better shape. Well, I've never done that, and doubt it would work with acrylic, so, thinking about it, I wondered if steam would help.
I've just taken it upstairs, and applied liberal doses of steam from my steam gen iron.
What a revelation! It looks really nice! It hangs better, the 'bounce' has gone and it is laying nice and flat!
I knitted this, to hang over my shoulders in the evening when I'm knitting, and it's just perfect for that. With hindsight, I think the first version would have reacted in the same way and probably looked just as nice. Still, that version is now a nearly finished pair of socks...
I used some very cheap acrylic yarn, bought years ago - 150g, taken from the stash, and it is a very quick knit, done in the round, on large needles!
Happy!
Jessie