MISSION IMPROBABLE: Create a bold vertical band on the cardigan front, using the same chart as the lower border. Unbidden, a vision of the finished thing came to me and would not let me out of its teeth.

But that’s not how knitting works: The chart demands to be worked horizontally, and crucially, in the round.

*Exerpt from the Beautiful Mind notebook*

I noodled on different ways to get what I wanted till my noodler was sore. Seriously, I experienced Intrusive Thoughts of the finished thing.

*Do not try to explain this to anyone while you are knitting it*

We’re used to picking up and knitting horizontal bands back and forth on cardigan fronts. It’s a short evolutionary hop to just join the ends of the band and work it as a tube. Right? Not crazy at all. Probably. I’m pretty sure.

*This is just crazy enough to work, amiright??*

From there it was clear to see I needed an equally-wide facing to cover the vertical steek. Leaving the work joined on my circular needle, I switched to knitting back and forth to work the facing because I didn’t want any extra bulk to deal with in finishing.