I’m really on a cardigan kick! The ones that I’ve made in the past have become too small for me, with the exception of my Felix Cardigan, which is an excellent staple piece that pretty much goes with anything. But lately I’ve been wanting showstoppers and statement-makers, especially when they can eat up as much of my stash as possible. A two-color brioche design like the Oliveros is ideal for this.
Brioche is an intimidating technique to learn, and fairly time-intensive (you basically work every row/round twice), but it creates one of the most relaxed fabrics in knitting. Cleo Malone, the designer, embraces that with a construction mostly unfettered by anything that constricts the stitches too much. No picking-up of stitches, no seaming. While well-designed, there’s very little structure. The whole sweater grows like organic matter from a central point at the back of the neck and over the shoulders, stretching with the body to let those flashes of contrast color shine through.
Of course, the relaxed nature of this pattern means it will grow significantly during blocking, which is what happened to me. The sleeves are actually quite a few inches past my wrist (and my fingertips). That’s okay with me, though, I’ll just cuff the sleeves. But if you want something more to your measurements, block with caution.
There’s a distinct cloak-iness to this pattern, so I decided to go full fantasy with the color choices. Blue and gold has always reminded me of magic and wizards, so from my stash I chose a deep navy/teal mystery yarn that I had left over from a sweater I made for my dad, “Willow” from Yarn Nouveau (an antique gold shade), and “Tectonic” from Feederbrook Farm, a prismatic marl with gold, blue, orange, and periwinkle. I have a whole Pinterest board of wizardy visuals, and I’m a sucker for the celestial aesthetic.
What I’m listening to
The wizardly inspiration isn’t surprising when I’ve been hosing down episodes of “The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild One” from Worlds Beyond Number, a D&D actual play podcast with some giants of the TTRPG world: Aabria Iyengar, Lou Wilson, Erika Ishii, and Brennan Lee Mulligan. Iyengar plays the Wizard Sky (Suvi to her friends – the naming conventions of wizards is a whole thing in this universe), a magical prodigy balancing her duty to the institution that raised her with the outsider perspectives of her close companions: Ame, a rural-dwelling witch whose power comes from communion with nature and spirits (Ishii); and Eursulon, a spirit who has become stranded in the mortal plane where he is at risk of persecution (Wilson).
Iyengar and Mulligan, the dungeon master who runs this campaign, have created a very different vision of wizards than I’m used to. In table-top games, wizards can cast powerful spells and learn many different kinds of magic, but are known for being “squishy”, or easy to physically harm. The image of an old bearded sage in a tall brimmed hat persists.
Not here. Suvi is a young Black woman with a hot boyfriend and a caffeine addiction. Her adoptive mother figure is a sword-wielding valkyrie of a mage. The Citadel where they live is both an academic and military headquarters. There are spells that become people – a personified mage hand cantrip works as a baker and makes Suvi’s favorite sandwich. Wizards can donate their unused spell slots to other wizards who might need them more. They can imbue physical objects, including weapons, with spells. In “WWWO”, what is possible when magic can reshape reality is truly and thoroughly explored. Why couldn’t a wizard be anything, really?
It’s actually a little terrifying. I’m not very far into the campaign, but I’m waiting for the shoe – the shoe being that the Imperium and the Citadel are unsustainably powerful and, for all their wonder, must be dismantled before it embroils the world in unending war – drops. Highly recommend.
Smitty is Knitting 