Yes, I know! Can you believe I’m still working on this project?

I started a hoodie for Sarah back in January, I think. It’s mostly stockinette with a rib detail on the sleeves. I was so close to finishing about two weeks ago. The fronts, the back, and the sleeves were finally ready. But when I placed the sleeves side-by-side, I noticed that they did not match.

But how could this be?

I didn’t have any extra stitches. The detail was exactly 9 stitches wide. So what had I done wrong? It took me a bit to figure out the source of the error, but it had to do with the way the cuff had been made. The cuff consists of a 1×1 rib over 47 stitches.

I normally use the knitted cast on for my projects. It’s one of the simplest methods of casting on stitches, and I like that I can start working on a pattern’s Right Side right away. (On most patterns, Row 1 after your cast on is also considered the Right Side of your work — but not always!) Another thing I like about using this cast on method is that after I complete casting on the stitches I need, I end up with a little yarn tail on the left edge of the work, which I use to quickly tell if I’m on the right side (RS) or the wrong side (WS) of my project.

If I had used this method, as the pattern stated, I would have started the 1×1 rib (knit-purl) on the first row (RS) and I wouldn’t have had to redo the whole sleeve.

For this sweater, however, I decided to use a tubular cast on. I thought it would look cool and a little more pro. With tubular cast ons the tail of the yarn on row 1 ends up on the right side of the stitches you cast on. I think this threw me off and when I started the knit portion I didn’t look to see if I was looking at the RS of the rib, which should have started with a knit stitch.

I was bummed to have to start over. On the positive side, I was able to save the cuff, and this time I hid the tail and added a marker to know which side was the RS. This little mistake turned into a lot of work. I’m making progress on the sleeve and hope to have it ready by the end of next week. I’ll check back in soon.

Here’s what happened:

Version A is what should have happened. After starting with a knit stitch on the first row, the 20th stitch(first stitch of the nine-stitch detail) has to be a purl stitch to match the base row. This results in four ridges and five valleys on the detail.

Version B shows my mistake. Starting the ribbing with a purl stitch results in having to knit the 20th stitch, which results in three ridges and four valleys on the nine-stitch detail. The first and last stitches of the repeat blend into the existing fabric and the detail looks off-center.

Note: I think that if I had been careful to start the tubular cast on with a purl stitch, this could have also been avoided.