So I was good and blocked the cardigan pieces before seaming, but after seaming it seemed a little bit small... Rather than being impatient and immediately moving onto cuffs and hems (well, I did knit the collar, i can't be expected to wait for everything, can I?), I was good and gave the whole shebang a long wet soak and have laid it out to dry, blocked fairly strictly to measurement. This way I figure I should get a decent idea of whether the perceived shrinking was due to my lazy blocking job, or an unexpected spring back in the knit fabric. If I feel that it's going to be too small, at this point I could still pull out the underarm and side seams (the raglan seams should be fine) and add in spacer panels if need be. I really don't want to, but it's better to know now rather than knit the whole damn thing and have to rip out the hems and reknit everything.
I think it's starting to look like a real sweater now! and I can't wait to knit the hems, cuffs, and work in all the last secret details...
There's more left to go than I care to admit, and the blocking has set me behind a few days, but it's The Right Thing to do.
