Sweater progress

I finally have measurable progress on the bomber jacket! After a lot of trial and error on the length, here's the completed back:



The pattern was written for rowan denim, which apparently shrinks about 30% in length after being washed. Since my lovely Cascade Sierra shouldn't, and since I also don't want the finished product to be quite as stomach-baring as the original, there's been a lot of ripping back on this one as I try to guess a good length. Thanks to the trusty row counter, though, I should at least be able to replicate the length for the front.

Thanks to Marian from my knitting group and Cheryl (in the comments) for the tip from Stitch n Bitch Nation on fixing the large last stitch in each rib. In theory, wrapping the stitch backwards on the purl side, and knitting it twisted on the knit side is supposed to fix the ribbing. I gave it a shot, but ended up having to rip back 15 rows because not only did the stitches stay big, but it made the ribs zig-zag based on the even and odd rows. I must be bad at following instructions... but has anyone tried this tip successfully? It does seem like it would still be useful for the sleeves if anyone's gotten it to go.