Knitting -- ribs three ways -- fisherman's and shaker's

I have been using up leftovers in throws, like this one in Victorian double stitch using Palette.

I did another with Wool of the Andes in Eye of Partridge.  

Then I used up Comfy Worsted in brioche. 

Brioche is a ribbed stitch that doesn't need a ribbed hem to keep the edge from curling up. Some websites confuse it with fisherman's rib. The two are not at all alike. 

One of the issues with fisherman's rib is you can't use your normal round counts. I would normally do 130 rounds below the armpits for fingering weight yarn. The knit-belows and purl-belows compress the rows or rounds. You must measure. 

OTOH the number of stitches does work, so 280 stitches in the body and 56 in the sleeve, increasing up to 92, did work.

You can do steeking above the armpits so as to keep working in the round.

What you cannot do is pick up around the steeking so as to knit the sleeves top down. You will end up with the ribs going around your arm, not along it, and in a bulky yarn you will look like you're wearing a Cuban music hall dance costume. So you have to knit the sleeves separately, making sure they are the right length for your arm, and then sew them in at the steeking.

That said, fisherman's rib is better done in worsted or bulky yarn than fingering.

For fisherman's rib, use a 24-inch circular needle and cast on an even number of stitches. Join and start a marker so you know when to switch between steps 1 and 2. 

Work 1 knit round and one of K1/P1. 

Step 1: knit into the bottom of the knit stitches. This means, don't put your needle through the knit stitch, but under it, knit and pull off. Purl the purl stitches.

Step 2: knit the knit stitches. For the purl stitches, you have two loops that look like the purl stitches in a brioche. This is probably part of the confusion. Bring your yarn to the front. Put your needle back to front between these two loops. Wrap the yarn counterclockwise around the needle and pull to the back, then pull the joined stitches off. BE VERY CAREFUL to do this right, or you will find you have a dropped stitch.

You do NOT want to drop stitches. Recovery is a...OK pain.

Repeat steps 1 and two until you get to the armpits. Put an even number of stitches on each side of the "seam" on a holder. Then do steeking and finish above the armpit with 10 rounds of K2/P2 rib, and bind off in rib.

Do the sleeves the same only start with 56 stitches. Join and do your knit round. Then K2, K1/P1 around, K2. Put your marker between the two K2s; these will be your "seam" and you will do increases on the second knit stitch.  I did 220 rounds in the sleeves to get the right length.

When you get to the right length, bind off. Turn the body inside out, match the armpits and knit those stitches off, ease the body around the top of the sleeve and sew together.

I used Cascade 220 super-wash merino in fingering weight. It comes in hanks of 219 yards and a hank does 45 rounds (3.5 inches) in the body and half a sleeve in the arm. 

Now the problem child, Shaker Rib. I've seen three different videos on it, and one of them clearly shows brioche. So here's the apparent winner.

Cast on an even number of stitches.

Knit one round.

P1, K1BELOW, repeat.

Knit one round. 

Repeat the last two steps all the way up the body or sleeve. 

Notice that you are not purling below, so this won’t be as compressed as Fisherman’s rib. I had hanks of 494 yards of fingering yarn and worked 42 rounds at 280 stitches per round.

Here is a side-by-side comparison.

So now you have some new stitches to try out with your stitch count although, sadly, you also have an example of how the experts don't always present all the information you need.

Now. Fisherman's rib is the stitch in a sweater I saw James Steward wearing in Dear Brigitte. Yesterday I searched all over the internet for something that also has this shawl collar, and mostly what I got back were Aran patterns. The exception was a discontinued pattern by Purl Soho. I emailed them and they were kind enough to give me a link to the pattern for free. I am sending them a link to this post. and here is a link to their discontinued pattern. Contact them if, like me, you are into classic styling.

https://www.purlsoho.com/create/2016/02/04/top-down-shawl-collar-cardigan/?srsltid=AfmBOor2_UkghmU97mlqfYIjwytvXgCU7cK4bwvSQZRzXrAGGos0awQa

And that's why I love knitting. The feeling of community.