So then rather than doing that, exactly, I went up a needle size, decreased the stitch count somewhat, and substituted the thicker Malabrigo Mecha for their Rios to see how that would do.
And I think the answer is… Next time do floats. Since the biggest problem is the black showing through the white at the front. My usual is to wrap the unused across the back of every working stitch so that things are snug, warm, and don’t catch on things, including in the laundry, but that means needing it to be knit very densely to keep those bits from becoming visible.
I just need to stop being reluctant to knit the thing on size 3 US, frankly. Then I can keep on doing it my way.
I finished the second hat.