craftgrrl | Cable or not to cable? Rib or not to rib?

One very question heavy post, coming right up : )!

Like most knitters, I found a pattern and decided to adjust it to my own tastes. I decided this cabled sweater would look adorable in black (I love black sweaters, and thought it would look oh-so-swanky when on my bike or under a jean jacket). So, I've quickly knit up the back and shoulders in the ribbed pattern that it demanded, and have hence started on the two front cabled panels. I have now come to the following conclusions about this:

1) The cables look awful; and
2) The yarn just doesn't look right!

I'm frogging the work right now, sad, but it must be done. Since it's a biking jacket for me (and yes, it's Shetland wool, I'll be nice and snuggly in that thing!) I'm thinking of taking the Skully intarsia sleeve pattern from the first Stitch n' Bitch book and slapping one on each chest panel. So, instead of cables on the two front panels, I am thinking of knitting up the two panels in stockinette stitch with about 3 inches on ribbing on the bottom, stockinette, then putting on the skulls on the chest panels, then finally going back to ribbing for the high collar. However, this leads me to my question: Can the back of a sweater be in ribbing, while the front be in stockinette/ribbing? I don't want it to look weird, but I do love how ribbed sweaters hug my curves. I also don't want to frog the back either, as it's...well, a lot of work!

Any advice would be lovely : ).