Just joined!

I feel like I am coming so late to the party... but I decided to knit the Ribby Cardi as my first sweater. I know that I will need a virtual hand throught this. I have read through most of this blog, there is a lot of useful information here.
I plan to knit the plain panel version and I'm using Peruvian Highland in Celadon and Nutmeg Heather (see, follow the pattern...) After playing around with color I kept coming back to those colors, thay have a retro fell that I love, and I keep seeing it around, so I know it's calling to me. I am tempetd to knit the front and back panels as one piece, I noticed a few of those on here, but that might be too difficult for me. If it turnes out well, I may make one for my dh.

I can't wait to get started, I have the yarn, I swatched last night, I got gage with my size 7 needles, which are being used for a scarf right now, so I will have to finish that first. I hope to cast on next week.
So I hope there are others still out there, I look forward to sharing the experience.
Oh yeah, I am knitting the 42/43 size, I don't want it to be too tight or too short.

If I want to lengthen it, I should do it before the underarm increases. right?

Also, what kind of cast on should I use?

That's it for now!

-Melissa

Long over due update

Just thought I would give you guys an update on my ribby.

I got my order from elann only to discover that I had reversed my colors when ordering and ordered more of the arm color than the body. I was afraid it might look weird with blue arms and brown body, so I took some of the other colors that I ordered to make purses with and just striped the whole thing. It's not really my style at all, but very trendy according to my nieces. It's very very retro looking- striped greens, browns, and blues. I'll probably give it to one of my nieces who are the same size as me.

So, it started off on the wrong foot because of the colors and then...I was going to knit the body all together and after thorough thought and calculations I decided I needed to cast on the left side first. Only to discover two days into it that I should've casted on the right side first. So I ripped. From that point it has been smooth. I have become great friends with my crochet hook because for some reason I cannot seem to maintain the ribbing pattern correctly for more than a few rows. Did you know you could reverse a stitch 20 rows back? Well, you can. And practice does make perfect. It's just a shame I can only perfect repairing mistakes and not remaining in pattern.

I am about halfway through the dec's and cannot seem to find any time to work on the darn thing. It appears that this part is going well except for once on the whole thing, I remained in pattern which means I have a couple of purls on the cast off edge instead of all knits. I am not going to frog though because I have cut my yarn for the striping through out the dec's and I would rather throw the whole thing away than deal with that mess. Maybe I can somehow cover up those few mistakes when it's all done.

Fits perfect too...at least to this point.

I am usually not this needy

about my knitting. I usually make a decision and go for it. For some reason I can't get past the size issue. I have read all the past posts, I have read the article on Knitty about ease, and I have read the chicknits blog about fit and still can't make up my mind what size to make.

Is there anyone here that is a 41" bust that is willing to share what size you made and how it fits? I looked through the ribby gallery and saw someone that I estimated to be about my size and she made the 38/39 size and it looked fine on her.

I promise....no more whining once I finally get this thing underway :-)

I got my Peruvian Highlands Sierra Aran yarn

when it went on sale yesterday. I got the Mallard for the body and the Jasper for the sleeves. I am still deciding what size to make. I just made Samus in the 43" size and it is a little big. I am thinking the 40/41" size for Ribby. Is the first number unstretched and the second stretched?

Also, I am thinking I will make the all over ribber version with a collar. I don't want a skin tight sweater...will the all over ribbed version be tighter fitting than the flat front version?

Me again :-)

I know you guys will get sick of my questions before I even begin. :-) I have decided on the new aran weight from Elann, in the darker color combo in my earlier post. I am trying to figure out how much yarn I need. According to my calculations I need 14.25 balls total...round that up to 15. It says to use 1/3 plus 1 ball for the sleeves. So is that 10 balls for the body and 6 for the sleeve (15/3=5+1) for a total of 16 balls or is it 9 for the body and 6 for the sleeves for a total of 15???

I am hopeless at math :-)

Another question before beginning

I saw that Elann has a new Peruvian wool in an Aran weight that has a gauge of 18 stitches/4 inches on size 8. I am wondering if I could use this for Ribby? I tend to be a tight knitter so would probably make gauge ok, and if Ribby were a smidge big, that would be ok. (Can you tell I am trying to justify?)

I am thinking of Mallard for the body and Jasper for the sleeves

Or Atlantic Mist for the body and Dusty teal from the highland wool collection for the sleeves

Any thoughts on being able to use the aran weight??

Zippers?

Hi all. This is a silly question as I haven't started mine yet.... I'm already thinking about the zipper :-). Where have people been getting their zippers? I saw zipperstop.com has a nice selection but wanted some more options. I really like the zippers that open at both ends. I'd also like to match the lavender I'm using as much as possible. Take care all! Happy Knitting!

Haven't started yet

Hi everyone,
I am new here and haven't started my ribbi yet but I am doing some research. I seem to remember a gallery of finished ribby's a while back but I can't seem to find it now. Can anyone tell me where that is or if I made it up in my mind? :-)
Thanks
Kim

copyright issue

Hi everyone! We have deleted a post that contained pattern instructions that were in copyright violation. Please be careful when you post not to include specific directions from the pattern. Bonne Marie is very kind in helping people out when they run into any problems with her patterns; just email her if your questions involve lots of pattern-specific info-- ie measurements, stitch counts, etc.
Contact Bonne Marie.
Happy Knitting!