Any ideas or advice for transition row/s

[Creations]

Hello

I’ve been working swatches for a sweater and I’m a bit stuck for ideas on the transition between the rib hem and the body of the sweater which I don’t appear to be able to get neat.
There’s no particular pattern to follow it’s an idea of my own after looking at a few different patterns. It is essentially a very basic sweater made of rectangles.

Yarn is DK
Main body is stockinette stranded colour work (2 colours) on 6mm needle gauge 18sts per 10 cm. This is quite loose and open but it’s the softest of the swatches and I prefer it to the firmer smaller needle swatches.

Rib (1 colour) is on 3.75mm needle gauge 20.5 sts per 10 cm.

The section I’m making is 84cm or 150 sts on 6mm.
This is 172 sts on the rib to make the 84cm.

I’ve done swatches with equal number of stitches on the rib (150) and it looks nice transitioning to the 2 colour stranded fabric but without the additional 22 sts for the gauge difference the rib pulls in a lot and would be approx 11cm narrower.

I’ve tried adding in the 22 extra stitches for the rib but I am having problems getting a nice transition between rib and main body. I’ve done quite a few swatches trying different things.
After the rib on 3.75mm I switched to 6mm 2 colours and decreased the stitch count. It was messy and kind of holey where I worked 2 together.
I’ve tried a few sort of transition rows, working a 4.5 or 5mm row after the 3.75, then a decreasing row on 5.5mm before moving to 2 colours and 6mm but this looked both bulky and holey.
I tried introducing the 2 colours a little earlier, at the top of the rib and in rib pattern, that was bulky.

Just wondering if anyone had ideas or tips, someone with more experience, or different experience who might have some simple solution- it feels like it shouldn’t be this hard and I’m just missing something.
Am I trying to jump gauge too much?
Should I be decreasing on the 3.75 in rib an then switching to 6mm and colours?
Or take a few rows to let the gauge gradually shift??

Not sure if this matters but I’m working the rib like the first row of the chart, knits for one colour, purls for the other, with the idea that the knit columns continue up into the colour work whilst the purls switch to colour 2.

[Creations]

Too much thought. I had not planned on needing quite so many swatches for just a rib hem!

I think I’ve decided on the approach now, k2togtbl seemed to help somewhat. Still kind of holey each side but I think I’m going for it unless someone has another idea which I’m still open to.

[kushami]

I don’t have any suggestions, but wanted to say how nice the flow of the ribbing to the colourwork pattern looks. I haven’t seen that before.

[Creations]

Thank you, kushami.
I like the width of the knit sections in that swatch, unfortunately if I begin the chart on that row I can’t fit the full motif in to the length of the sweater, or the sweater would be too long. Beginning on a row where the motif will fit means a lot more purls in the rib which causes some problems. 15 (20 with the gauge difference) purls in one section looks nice with the 2 colours but causes stockinette curl in that section, I swatched a turned hem for the section which looked really nice but I didn’t like the thickness of fabric with it double.
…so… I had added knits into the longer purl section which is something of a compromise. Maybe with a different motif I’d get what I had in mind, that can be a future project.
I do like the general look of it though and think the compromises are probably acceptable.
Here’s what I think I’m going with, not quite as good a flow in the rib to colour, a bit of a hole either side of the decreases on the transition of gauges, but the rib sits pretty flat and works to the right measurement. The right edge is bending down on the swatch but I think that will sit straight when supported by the rest of the panel and seam as this is only a short section.

[William3carter]

Great topic! Transition rows can really make or break a project, especially when moving between different stitch patterns or colors. One trick I’ve found helpful is using a chain stitch or slip stitch to create a smoother transition, depending on the project.