How to go from round ribbing (3/3) to flat pattern

How-to Questions
1

I do not understand this part of the pattern I am currently trying to knit:

Knit 24 rounds of 3/3 ribbing (in the round).

Now, you knit back and forth, and the work is divided for the middle piece. Knit towards the end of the round. Pick up and knit 3 sts in the first 3 garter sts’ back loops (see illustration). There are now 3 garter sts at the beginning and the end of the row, and the round should now be divided between them, so you can knit the pattern on a straight knitting needle.

I’ve done the ribbing, and as I understand I now have to work flat (it becomes a shrug). It goes from [k3,p3] to a drop stitches pattern which still follows this 3/3-sequence but has k3-edges on BOTH sides - while the ribbing would give a p3-edge on one side. So 3 stitches (in knit on the RS) have to be added to that end. I can do that, but not in the manner as it is described in the pattern.

My problems:

  1. Where does this garter stitch come from, I knitted in ribbing!
    [COLOR=“Blue”]Or do I need to knit a row flat [= “knit towards the end of the round”], I thought I would have to follow the ribbing here, just flat instead of round.[/COLOR]
  2. when I knit 3 stitches in the back loops, don’t the stitches get added behind the knitwork?
    [COLOR=“Blue”]It doesn’t look right - I tried (in the purled loops)[/COLOR]
  3. “So you can knit the pattern on a straight knitting needle”
    [COLOR=“Blue”]I’ll have to do another round of knitting in [3p, 3k] to get to the right side of the knitting again and start with what the pattern calls the “set up row on straight needles”[/COLOR]
  4. Might it be that I have to add the stitches to the beginning (k3 edge of the ribbing) of the round, rather than the end (p3 edge of the ribbing part)?
    [COLOR=“Blue”]I think this might be the case, as when you do the opposite later (go from flat to round), you knit 2 stitches together from both edges. I can reason this has to be the case, and I can reason this isn’t at all :eyes: I really need to do it or see it done before I can be sure! And even then, I can do it in such a way that it is OK - either way :wall: So what IS really meant here?[/COLOR]

I checked the notes on Ravelry, but while others had this problem I do not understand their solutions.

I was a little bit confused by the instructions when changing from knitting in the round to straight needles. The instructions say to knit back and forth which I read as knit 1 row but you need to follow the described pattern. The important thing is to increase 3 sts at the start of working in back and forth rows to have the ends of the row symmetrical.

Link to complete pattern:
On the Loose

I am quite confused :?? Any help would be really appreciated.

2

Very clever pattern overall and very pretty shrug.
The edge 3 sts on each end are going to be in garter stitch. I would work the last row in the k3p3 ribbing so that the pattern continues smoothly into the elongated/drop stitch pattern. The [U]first 3sts[/U] are k3 and the last 3 are p3 as you explained. Now pick up 3 sts in the back loops of those first 3 knit sts (underlined), knit them, and turn to start working flat. Knit the sts you just picked up (this is the garter stitch edge) and work to the last 3sts. Knit the last 3sts and continue the pattern keeping the first and last 3sts in garter.
The reason for this is to give you a symmetrical edge that will lie flat instead of k3 on one edge and p3 on the other edge. You can see the overlap of the 3 sts in the 3rd photo here. That’s why the 3 sts should be added to the p3 edge and not the k3 edge.
If this isn’t clear, come back and ask again, please.

3

Thank you so much. I tried this on a test-ribbing I made to make sure I didn’t ruin the real thing, and it worked like a charm!

This method does pull on the stitches a bit, so I might sew it up a bit on the inside, but I do think it is nice and quite different from “just” going from in the round to a flat pattern. I’ll probably do a few more rows in ribbing before starting the actually pattern with the yo and dr sts, to avoid it going all “wide” right from the start. I cannot wait to see how it turns out :cool:

Thank you again, this was a big help!

4

And here’s how I did it.

I picked up the stitches with a crochet needle, as I never get the first knit right with a knitting needle - the tension is hard to maintain:

Then I purled from the crochet needle (yes, I know that might mess up the gauge in that part… I did try to keep it a bit loose) for the start of the WS row:

I did 2 more rounds in ribbing and then started the pattern:

5

That should work. You could have started knitting back and forth right away but it looks fine as is.
Yes, the crochet hook is a good idea. I don’t think tension is really going to be a problem in this small part of the pattern. You just want the 3 edge sts on either end of the row to be knit stitches on the RS.
Love the color!

6

What a clever sweater! I’m glad you got that section of the pattern lined out - its going to be a stunner!