Errors in Patterns

I was working up a new square from "200 Crochet Blocks..." on Monday when I realised it was happening again. The pattern was misleading me.



I'd just finished working up #2: Tiny Textures, and had moved onto #10: Openwork Square. Straight away, there was something different. #10 starts with ch 34. #2? ch 32. That might not be too bad, I can hear you thinking. #10 might begin with a row 1 of TR & #2 might have begun with DC. Except it didn't. Both squares started off with a foundation row of double crochet. Which meant that by the end of it, #2 Tiny Textures had a base row of 31 and #10 Openwork Square had a base row of 33.

In any given world, if you work up these squares with the SAME yarn and the SAME hook, the square that has a base width of 33 stitches is GOING to be bigger than the square with a base width of 31.

Look:

The completed square is the one I featured on Monday: #2: Tiny Textures. The beginning-as-yet-unmade-square strip featured is the beginning of #10: Openwork Square. It's only up to row2, which means I've worked the 34 ch, turned, worked dc's along & ended up with 33dc. Then I worked row 1 (the treble lacey row) & row 2, which is where I really ran into the ... trouble.

Row 2 reads thus: 1ch, 1dc into first tr, 2dc into each 1ch sp along row, ending with 2dc into 1ch sp formed by turning ch, turn (33dc).

Which would work, if row 1 hadn't read like this: 4ch (counts as 1tr, 1ch), miss 1dc, tr into next dc *1ch, missing 1dc, 1tr into next dc; rep from * to end, turn.

The little pattern repeats itself along and works itself over 2dc's of the previous row. (1tr, ch1 missing a dc.) Row 2 has you working 3 (THREE) stitches into each of the 2dc space of that foundation row. This means you end up with a count that looks like this:

See how much LONGER the 33dc wide strip became with row 2? It ended up being 44dc wide with those extra dc's added in.

This is WHY, when you work up a new pattern or square, you do a quick trial run first. Does the square work up correctly? Is it the same size as the other one? I've talked about this before, last year when I posted about "blocks that should match, but don't" funnily enough about a few other blocks from 200 Crochet Blocks. It's not that this block is incorrect - in fact it's perfectly fine. It's just that it's size in relation to other blocks is different. If you make it up before hand and notice this sort of size error, it's then relatively easy to adjust the pattern to fit your other squares.

This book is terrific. I can't recommend it enough to people who like to crochet, and especially to learners. But don't open the book and expect to be able to work up every block to the same size. It's not going to happen. The best of intentions can sometime backfire, and even experts like Jan Eaton can sometimes end up with errors in their work.

The frustration...

That special frustration that's kept aside for knitters and crocheters...

When you start off a new square, and decide you think the pattern's slightly off, so you undo it and start it again. A little further along in the pattern this time, and you decide the pattern was right to start with, so you undo it again and start over. Then when you get a little further, and realise the problem with the square isn't the pattern but the way you're doing a certain stitch, which is wrong. So you take apart the square, again....

4th time lucky!!

Oh flower why have you five petals...

Yesterday, I made a flower.




I really really like making three dimensional crochet patterns.




I'm thinking on day I'll be brave enough to try an Amigurumi! But not today.




Why not today? Well this cute little flower, is meant to have six petals. So why, oh gorgeous little flower, do you have only five???

It's the start of the Week 3 square for the Spotlight rug. Apparently it's caused quite a kerfuffle. Spotlight aren't putting up any helpful instructions, so it's up to the crocheter to figure out how the pattern goes. Which is fine for experienced hookers (haha, get your mind out of the gutter people!) but for those of us who don't have that much success in reading patterns and translating them immediately to how they're supposed to look, it's a challenge. This pattern, is a challenge. However, I love making flowers, so I was excited.

It took until round 3 for me to understand how it was supposed to start.

Round 1: make the chain loop to start.
Round 2: make 12 treble crochet stitches
Round 3: ch 2, htr, (dec2htr) 5 times, join with first stitch.

HA! Holy schamole, it's been so long since I've decreased a stitch, I had to go look it up. It's actually quite easy: you're turning two stitches into one, so for a row with 12 stitches in it, and you create two new ones at the start (with the ch 2, htr), it makes sense that you'd need to join together 2 htr into one to decrease down into around 6 stitches. BUT the pattern DOESN'T TELL YOU that's what you're trying to do.

And it turns out, I decreased apparently one too many times. Or maybe I didn't. I'm not quite sure what went wrong, except that I didn't make six petals a turn: I only made five.

So. I'm going to attempt, at some point this week, so demonstrate how each step looks at the end of it. I'm going to need luck!

For those who gave up at this block, pick it back up. What you need to understand to get through Round 3, is that you're drawing the little circle up, to make a dome :)

I also worked it back to front, which I'm not sure is right either. See how my petals seem to bend outwards, like a normal flowers' petals would? I think they're supposed to turn inwards instead, like a flower just beginning to bloom, instead of in full bloom.

Blocks that should but don't match

Yesterday I wrote about how sometimes despite following a pattern for blocks that should be the same size, you'll end up with two differently sized/shaped blocks. I showed you Pink Stripes & Half&Half yesterday. Today, I give you my currently most extreme example:






BandOfBobbles & Half&Half could NOT be joined together or placed in the same blanket in their current form. They are supposed to be able to. I would have to rework one or both of them: by either working Half&Half in a size hook down, or increase BandofBobbles hook by a size or two. I might actually rework BandofBobbles, since I enjoyed it but wasn't satisfied with the end result, and see what increasing the hook size might do.

When blocks are misshapen...

Now, the other day I posted Block#15, Half&Half, & last week, I posted Block#13 BandofBobbles: both of these blocks I felt were shaped wrong. Here is an example of the difference between a good block & one that is out of proportion.






PinkStripes, on the right, is a good size & matches with a lot of the other blocks. BUT, it is longer than it is wide. However, it isn't blocked.

Half&Half is simply wider & longer. However, it is also not blocked. But it's a looser weave than the other blocks.

I'll be talking more about this, but this represents a good reason one should (a) block your squares, and (b) crochet a test square to check for tension.

Block #14 Part Deux

So, this is the square from yesterday that I posted:

Crocheted in two different types of acrylic, I posted that there was an ERROR in is. Did you see it?

I was in row 13 when I realised that I'd added 5 stitches of double crochet in my alternate colour over the last 4 rows instead of 4. (The pattern calls for increasing steps of "4 stitches of double crochet" in an alternate colour every 4 rows.) So by row 13, I had 13 stitches of my alternate cream colour and 15 stitches of the pink, instead of 12 (cream) and 16 (pink). I compensated in the next row by reducing my pink stitches by 5 and adding only 3 of the cream, instead of 4 and 4.

It's not overly noticable and in fact unless I point it out I'm not sure you'd notice it. But it's there, and I can see it. I could have undone the previous four rows (which I seem to constantly do some days) and correct the error, but in this case I didn't. Probably because it's a sample square and not for anything in particular. If it were for a rug or blanket, it might have been a different story.

When things don't go as expected

I picked up a magazine from the UK called "making", that had a crochet supplement free. Five crochet projects, one of which is called "Lily's Blanket". It is made up of many many separate star-flowers, and last night I decided to crochet one up.

I started with a type of yarn that is recommended - sock yarn - and an appropriate crochet hook - a 2.5mm. Waaayy too small to work this pattern with. Went to a bigger 8-ply yarn with a 4mm hook. This is the result.













I have put the star aside. The pattern was too compact for this yarn and the hook, just like the thinner yarn. It is curling up at the edges, and looks lumpy. Instead of getting overly frustrated with it, I just put it aside. I'll go back to it, but sometimes projects stumble, and it's better to have a res and work on something else for a while. It gives you time to think about how to tackle the stumling block. In this case, I'm going to continue with this yarn, but go to a size 5mm hook. The yarn might be the issue: it might be too big a ply, but with a bigger hook it should work in the star's favour. I could also go back to the thinner 2-ply sock yarn and try a 3.25/3.5/3.75mm hook.