No, I'm not feeling blue, but I am working with a lot of blue lately. The husband's scarf in navy is languishing while I work out the design for "Oliver," a zip-front (a first for me) cardigan, knit sideways (another first). "Oliver" will be sized for a 12-month-old infant so it should knit up fairly quickly (famous last words). Knowing I wanted to knit this sweater from side to side, I chose a few possible pattern stitches, and started swatching, using Tahki's Cotton Classic in "electric 
blue"--isn't the stitch definition nice? The top photo is "mini lattice" from Barbara Walker's Charted Knitting Designs, going into 1 X 1 rib at the top (note that the rib is actually wider than the pattern stitch), and the middle photo is "jewel cross-rib" from BW's 2nd Treasury of Knitting Patterns. I finally decided against both of these and in favor of using "mirror cable" (also from Charted Knitting Designs) as an accent panel. It's pictured in the bottom photo; I was also playing with background stitches, going from (left to right) garter to 
stockinette to reverse stockinette. The reverse stockinette seemed to set off the panel most effectively. As I pictured "Oliver," the mirror cable panel would run along the tops of the arms and shoulders. I played with using a simpler version of the mirror cable along the body, but decided a simple repeated baby cable would be better--this would be a small garment, after all, and I didn't want the stitch patterns to be overwhelming.
Usually a garment knit side-to-side is begun at the end of one sleeve, continued across the body, and then completed at the end of the other sleeve. Thinking about this brought out my latent anal tendencies; it bothered me that the increases for one sleeve will be decreases for the second sleeve, since it's being knit in the opposite direction--and even more bothersome (because more visible) the same will be true of the neck shaping: decreases on one side, increases on the other. I've always found it so pleasing to have those decreases marching in step along each side of the neck and armholes...which is one reason I decided to make this a cardigan (other reasons: I've been wanting to try using a zipper, and easy-on/easy-off is always a plus with a baby).
Next decisions: start from the sleeve end, or start from the center and work out? And what to do about the center back seam that would now be necessary? I answered the latter question first: I 
decided to add a vertical "mirror cable" panel down the back, both because I thought it would look nice, and because I didn't want a seam going right down poor Oliver's spine. At first I thought I would knit outward; this would allow me to pick up stitches from the sides of the vertical back panel, minimizing the thickness of those seams. But darn it, then the neck edges would have to be formed by increases, and I just think decreases look better! At left is the sweater schematic, looking a little messy, what with the center back panel, and the center front bands...and the shoulder panels...and the bottom edge ribbing...and the neck shaping...and the row and stitch calculations.
What to do? Just start knitting, for heaven's sake! So I did (more blue, this time 
100% merino--and yes, I did swatch in this yarn before beginning). At bottom is the sleeve; the proportions look a tad bizarre, but a) the sweater is unblocked, and b) the bottom of the sweater will have ribbing added. The left side appears as knitted, while the right side has been doctored: I thought another mirror cable panel might be nice--especially since the first one won't be fully visible from the front, as it lies along the top of the shoulder--so I copy/pasted to add one on the right. Hmmm....
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