Help with boat neck of sweater

[noejusti]

Hi,
I am trying to finish the striped vest from Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2004 issue, (it is item number 5 on page 85, if you have the magazine). Anyway, I have finished the front and back, blocked it, and sewed the shoulders and sides. It is time to put the neck band and armhole bands on it. The pattern calls for 88 stitches picked-up and knitted evenly around the boat-neck edge and done in k1,p1 rib all the way around for four rows before binding off. My problem is that there are approximately 126 bound-off stitches all the way around the neckline and most of the neck line is really straight in the front and back (like a boat-neck). I tried to space the stitches evenly, and the bound off stitches that I skipped show through. (if you note the pattern, it has many different colored stripes, and the neck band is red, the bound-off front edge is turquoise and the bound-off back edge is lime green). How do I make this work and still look good? Do I pick up and knit the total number of stitches and then decrease a lot of stitches in the first round? Please help, I don't know what to do.
Thank you.