Casting on (and off) for Tempting II

(How bizarre...I thought I just posted this using the "Blog This" link, but when I went to edit it, the post wasn't there. So sorry if it appears twice!)
One piece of advice for knitting Tempting II: Make sure your row gauge is spot on for the top shoulder band. If it isn't, the band will pull the otherwise perfectly fitted sweater away from the shoulders, because you're knitting one row onto each stitch of the sweater's top line as you make it. If your gauge is off, knit it with smaller needles, whatever you need to get the gauge right, or even snug. The band holds the sweater on your shoulders and keeps the silhouette of the sweater, so it's an integral piece of the sweater's structure, not just a decoration!
And (this was the edit I wanted to add) yes, you could totally make it without the buckle. When you get to the part of the pattern that begins the band, it tells you to begin knitting several inches of the band first. Start by knitting as little of that as possible--maybe just a few rows for ease of attaching the ends and of working the band onto the body of the sweater?--then immediately begin working the band onto the body. (That four or five inches or whatever it is is what becomes the tail you work through the buckle when you're finished.) Then you're just knitting the rows of the band onto the sweater body as you go around, picking up the live stitches off the circular that you've used to knit the body, effectively casting them off in the process. When you've picked up and knitted all of the body stitches, you've knitted the band all the way around and you're finished. You'd just cast off the band and be done. Where the instructions tell you to attach the band, you could instead sew the two ends of the band together like any unfinished seam, or add a button if that were your style (though in this case it sounds like you're looking for less detail, not more).
If you're going for no buckle, I might decrease a row before starting the band as well as knitting the band on smaller needles, just to be sure the shoulders would stay up. I'm not sure how much additional security the buckle actually provides--it doesn't have fastener or anything, so I wouldn't guess much.
Oh, and for those of you looking for buckles but unsure where to get them or what a Tri-Glide looks like, I found mine at LesBonRibbon.com. Great prices and selection and very fast and excellent service as well.