What a difference a week makes! Suddenly my current knitting project looks like a cardigan and is showing up in a fairly accurate colour.

Next up, I have to tackle the band which will run all the way up the fronts and round the neck. I have many ideas on how I could approach this. The pattern I’m loosely working from has you pick up stitches all the way round on one long, flexible needle and then knit a ribbed band which I could certainly do. Perhaps it would be in the lilac colour of the main body. Then again, maybe it would be in the contrast shade that forms the yoke. I wonder, though, whether either of these might look unbalanced.

Another idea I have would be to knit the band essentially as the pattern shows, but to alternate rows of each yarn. Or, broadening this theme, instead of working a rib I could do a stocking stitch border slipping stitches between the two colours to give a speckled, tweedy look. This might tie in the two different yarns more cohesively.

A simpler option would be to knit the bands separately from the cardigan as two long, narrow strips which can be sewn in place once complete. This would allow me to move easily from the lilac yarn to the coloured yarn at the appropriate place, thereby keeping continuity of the look of the piece. Where the other methods might look a little funky, this would be a very classic finish.

Then again, there is always my fall-back technique of crocheting the border. It can be quite quick, and very effective.

One thing is for sure: so far I am a little too tired to make that decision. It may have to wait for the weekend which will be here before we know it. In the meantime, the fact that cardigan is progressing well and, very importantly, fits me, is cause enough for celebration.