Sunday, July 8, 2018

One keeper, one frogger...

Getting a head start on next winter, I decided to start working on a little drawstring bag with a snowflake design.  The design is one of three patterns in the Christmas Gift Bags set.  And to tell you the truth, I'm just about ready to call it quits.


I've honestly never had so much trouble crocheting colorwork before.  I'm realizing (with this project) I'm not a fan of doing colorwork while crocheting on the front and back sides of a piece (as opposed to crocheting only on the front side  - which requires crocheting in the round).  But to make matters worse, I seriously complicated this project by double-stranding my cotton thread.  Which means I'm working from four balls of cotton, which takes a good deal of effort to not tangle up as I work.

Sigh.

I see mistakes in my work above and while the design is small and it would seem a simple thing to just frog it and re-crochet the design, I now know (from experience) just how difficult this yarn is to keep untangled.  As sad as it makes me, I feel like I should just cut my losses, cut the yarn - throw away what I've done so far and start over with some other yarn.  I'm beginning to contemplate starting over and crocheting this little bag in the round, and eliminate most of the headache that I'm struggling with trying to crochet this by turning my work. What pains me most is that below that snowflake design is the other half of the bag.   That's a lot of cotton thread to just throw away.  

Sigh.   I'll think on it some more before I do anything.  (ETA:  I'm back to report that I did manage to unravel the bag and only had to cut the thread once.  It's all usable again, so I count this bag a learning experience and I'm going to try to crochet the pattern in the round.  Hopefully, I'll have an update next week.)

~~~~~

To get back to my happy place, let me show the third mandala I crocheted a few weeks ago:


The Vernal Season Mandala from the book, Modern Crochet Mandalas, was easy and gratifying to make.

BUT, it is the third mandala I've made from this book that had errors in the written pattern.  By the time I got to this pattern, though, I was relying heavily on the diagram so the mistake was a quick find.  But then someone else told me  they had found at least one error in a diagram in this book so there goes my thought that relying on the diagrams will get a person through.

Considering the errors I've encountered, I, personally, would not purchase this book (not at retail price), but I do recommend trying the patterns if you have access to the book through, say, the library or even interlibrary loan.  (That's how I got my hands on this book.   It's one of the few current books on crochet my library has.)   The designs are pretty and after working a couple of these, I have found the hardest stitches become intuitive.

And that's all from me today!  To see what other YOPpers are up to, visit our group on Ravelry.




29 comments:

  1. It is so frustrating to pay for things with errors. Is there no errata for the book somewhere on the internet? I have learned to search for erratas before starting patterns. It is amazing to me how many errors get published. I love the mandala though so good work. I hear you about frogging and cutting your losses. I have learned that if I don't frog and I keep seeing the mistakes I won't be happy.

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    1. I don't ever think to look for errata before beginning a project. That might prove really productive. Something new to consider... lol I've started the bag over and it looks even worse. I'm done with it, but the latest picture will be posted next week.

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  2. The mandala is gorgeous, but frustrating if there are errors. I hear you with the bag and just wonder if there is any way of salvaging the bag below the motif? I don't know enough about crochet to know if that is possible.

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    1. Huh. You're right! I was able to frog it more or less successfully, but I could have cut it below the design and unraveled from there. That didn't even occur to me.

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  3. That sounds like a lot of mistakes for one book. It's so frustrating when one has paid the full retail price and then gets stuck with something like that. The mandala is really gorgeous, though, and I love the colours you've picked. As for the snowflake, do frog it and start it anew, maybe in a different yarn, I guess it'll be so much more fun then, and honestly, no pattern is worth that kind of headache.

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    1. I've restarted the pattern, but it doesn't work doing it in the round. I give up. I've started to look for another small bag pattern. I'm moving on...

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  4. That just goes to show what a great crocheter you are! I would have thrown it in the trash....but you are a saint and I'm so glad you were able to 'save the day'...I mean yarn. It looks so pretty but not worth your stress.
    The mandala is gorgeous and once again your skills outmatched the errors...amazing! Hope next week goes better!

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    1. lol. You make me feel like I can do anything, Sam. But alas... I cannot. Or, at least, I don't want to anymore.

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  5. Hi Becki you do such beautiful work,what a shame that bag is giving you trouble,i wish you well with your decision xx

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  6. Love the mandala!! Your crochet work is so beautiful!
    Ali @SimplySummerStreet

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  7. Sorry about the snowflake bag but it sounds like you have a good plan. And thanks for the heads up on the Mandala book. I have this one in my library but haven't made anything from it yet, so it's good to know I should watch out for errors.

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    1. I hope I don't discouraging you from trying a pattern (or several) from the book if you have it available for free. The ones I've done have been satisfying finishes. I just wouldn't buy the book.

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  8. THat Mandala is gorgeous, have you noticed that designers are not as thorough in sorting out mistakes in their designs recently. I wonder if it is the pressure of getting something new out.
    Sorry about the bag seems as if you have a plan though.

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    1. I do wonder about how much editing goes into any book anymore.

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  9. Well, darn it. Sorry your snowflake design didn't work out for you. I am glad to hear you were able to salvage most of the yarn.

    Your mandalas are always a joy to sed. You do so well getting colors to work together. It stinks that therecare so many errors in the book. Maybe there is an errata online for it. I have found mine there from my parrern books with errors.

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    1. The good news is I've found a yarn that works much better for this type of crocheting. Hopefully, my experiment will make an interesting post next week. Always learning...

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  10. My daughter would totally love your mandala, it's the colors she uses in her house. I know I've tested a few patterns and generally by the time it gets to the testers the pattern is fairly good. It makes you wonder who is really writing those books, does anyone do testing anymore. Or is the pressure to just get another pattern out have more weight than a bad review?
    You are so much ahead of me, since you're working on Holiday gifts, I haven't even thought about it. Hopefully you'll find a good solution. Glad to see that it was able to be frogged with a small amount of issues. Especially since you were using multiples.

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    1. When I looked the patterns up on Ravelry, there were several notations that (some of?) the patterns changed between testing and publication of the patterns. I don't know if those changes were brought about because of mistakes found during testing, or if designs were actually changed? I've only tested a pattern once (on Ravelry) and I found the process a bit confusing and the designer seemed to loose some interest. I wonder if it doesn't get overwhelming when something that seems clear to the designer isn't clear to the maker. In this book's case, though, it wasn't an issue of clarity. It was actual mistakes in counts of stitches or chains, or some other such thing like that.

      I haven't done Christmas gifts in a couple of years. I've actually got a project going that I need to have done before the Christmas season. Time will tell if I actually accomplish that, though. I'm winging it as I go...

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  11. In my experience most printed pattern books have errors these days. With pattern books from Interweave you can find the errata online. Otherwise there are often helpful notes in Ravelry. Very frustrating though, particularly if you weren’t confident and experienced.

    Glad you could save the yarn. I just finished up a test knit with the yarn held double and what a royal pain that was! The twist from one yarn kept tangling up with the other. Sigh. At least it’s done and lesson learned!

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    1. The real problem was using double strands of thread while doing colorwork. What a mistake that was.

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  12. I'm afraid I would have gone with your initial idea to cut your losses and chuck it - frogging difficult yarn is not something I do well (nor do I like dealing with yarn barf - I'd far rather cut the offending mess out and deal with a knot!). Too bad about errors in the pattern book - obviously the author didn't have anyone test the patterns before it went to publication.

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    1. It ended up not being too bad to frog. The bigger challenge was keeping the strands separated as I wound it back up into separate balls. I'm a glutton for punishment, it seems...

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  13. Beautiful mandala, though thanks for the heads-up re. the mistakes in the book, that would be really annoying to discover, in particular if I'd spent money on it.

    What a shame about your snowflake bag, though. Glad you were at least able to salvage the yarn.

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    1. I did salvage the yarn, and I figured out the solution to the bag! Next post!

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  14. I say if you ain't feelin' it, why torture yourself to finish the WIP.

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  15. How talented you are! I'm not very good at complicated patterns...what a mess I could get in if there was a mistake. LOVE your banner!

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  16. Your crochet is lovely. Well done on spotting the errors. I can spot errors in knitting patterns, but not yet in crochet patterns. There is no excuse for a published book to contain errors. Tut tut!

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