I finished knitting my Oppositional Cardigan over the weekend. It took a little to block it as the weather turned cooler and damper at the beginning of the week. I also had to be careful to pat it into shape and not stretch it, or the superwash wool was ready to grow to ridiculous proportions. This is one of those knit garments which might get a few minutes in the dryer on low. You know, when we have a dryer again someday. I didn’t dare drape it over the radiators, or it would stretch under it’s own wet weight. So once it was a bit more dry, I folded it a few times lengthwise to sit on top of the radiator. Eventually it was dry.
I was happy to see that the garter edge dried flat. Pre-blocking it was twisting one way with the twisted stockinette, and the other way with the reverse stockinette. Aside from the (inevitable) bust darts and short rows which I add to most tops, I made just a couple additional alterations.
First, just a minor thing – when I switched yarns from pink to blue/green I did one row of knitting before switching to purls on the right side. As the original design pairs a chocolatey brown with a turquoise/brown variegated, immediately switching to purls just mixes in the yarns, but with the high contrast of mine the purl bumps looked untidy.
Secondly, the original pattern just has a cast on edge at the neckline in the DK contrast color. Again, with the original sample garments choice of colors, this works. But my little edge of blue/green with pink sticking through the stitches just make it look like I had left behind a provisional cast-on of some sort. So I picked up the neck stitches and did a 2st icord bind-off. I tried a 3-stitch, but it was too bulky next to the fingering.
Lastly, as I’d chosen the option in the pattern to extend the front edges so that they met (I just knew I’d be forever tugging at the narrow edge otherwise), I also chose to add some hook and eyes to the blue/green middle section to let me fasten that up. I thought about adding them all the way up to the top, but I like how the edges fold back and I also got bored with sewing on hooks and eyes. Why continue for minimal return on investment?
And I may have selectively chosen several outfits this week to go with it. Above it today’s but I’ve also worn it with a deep purple tank top and a deep turquoise v-neck. It’s just what I was aiming for – a bright cheery little top I can thrown over what I’m wearing to add a little more warmth when a full sweater would be too much. The Undercover Otter yarn is nice and soft, and Fatimah Hinds’ design is cute and clever, as well as comfortable and practical.