A Finished Object?
Here is the front of my Long Asymmetrical Cardigan, from Andean Inspired Knits by Helen Hamann:
My knitting photography skills need some work. The wrinkles, I am embarassed to say, occurred post-blocking. I left the sweater in a bag, and now it needs re-blocking.
Back view:
This was a fun pattern to knit. Each side is knit from the cuff up, then stitches are added on for the front and back, which are knit simultaneously. Add the front shaping and you have a recipe for fun. One side color changes in stripes, and the other side multicolor intarsia. Then there is the [optional!] embroidered piece that is cross-stitched onto aida cloth before being sewn onto the front of the cardigan. It was optional, sure, but I thought the sweater needed the structure of this piece across the front. It also provides the third design element in terms of the colorwork. I very much like the design of the panel. Lookee:
What's not to love about that? The hours of stitching through the aida cloth, perhaps? But it was worth it to add that design, reminiscent of andean textiles, into the finished piece. Add a fantastical button:
and you have a sweater. A finished object: knitted, pieced, faced, tacked, embroidered, embellished, washed, blocked. But if you look more closely (which is hard to do because of fuzziness) at the bottom of the shortest cinnamon-colored stripe, against the shortest dark brown stripe -- right at the front-center of the sweater, you might see a little problem. A dropped stitch. Dropped. Front-and-center, dropped. I couldn't believe it.
Why oh why did I leave this thing in the bag? Probably because, just when I thought it was complete there is something to be mended. And not only the dropped stitch. There are places - many of them - where the color of the yarn tacking down the facing shows through the sweater. Yes, again Up Front. And Center.
What did Brando say? "The Horror . . . The Horror!"
