The Booties From Hell...a cautionary tale

[pipi_k]

Down below in a thread from months ago I said I would post photos from my latest scarf project. Well, I haven't finished because I have a few other projects going on plus some arthritis issues with my right thumb, but anyway...

Middle stepdaughter posts on Facebook asking if this bootie:



would be too hard to make. She wants the rainbow colored one for her 3 year old daughter.

Never did crocodile stitch before, so I find You Tube video, and watch...nope...looks relatively easy, and once you get the hang of it, it's very simple to do. So I tell her I can do it, and give her the supply list...special yarn if she wants the same rainbow look...she will buy it.

I buy the actual pattern itself since it's not free anyplace I look.

I receive the yarn but hand is killing me so I wait a few days before starting, but find that required crochet hook (Size F) is missing from my collection. Where it is, I don't know...other project, maybe? Can't find, so I order a second set of bamboo hooks (I like having extras)...13 of them. Two days later I receive...ready to get started....WTF????? NO SIZE F!!!

I go to Amazon to complain but then notice in product description that size F was not included in list of sizes. WTF again!!!

So I keep the set and order a single size F hook. Two more days go by. Yay...it gets here. I proceed to crochet booties.

Well, whoever wrote the instructions should be horsewhipped.

I do the sole and base row then, following directions exactly, attempt to get row for start of bootie top.

but nooooo...!!!!!

No matter how many times I count the number of stitches around, I can't get the same number that will also match the photo in pattern.

SIX times I try, then, frustrated beyond all belief, I stomp off into another room to cool down. Then I come back and email company I bought pattern from. I have an idea of how to do this, but just want to make sure I'm right.

They say they will respond within 48 hours, but three days later no reply, and I email again, at which point they tell me yes, I can do it a whole different, easier (and more logical) way. Well why the HELL didn't they write the directions that way???

I get through the bootie part and go to start the cuff...I do the "scales" and find that even though I've followed directions for the large size, I only have 8 "scales", not the 9 I'm supposed to have. Rip out a couple of times, then say "screw it"...one less scale isn't going to matter. Finish off first bootie...looks pretty good.

I start second bootie. Do sole and start of top same way as first bootie, then because buttons are on opposite side from first bootie, there are different directions.

I get to cuff and go to put in v-stitches and "scales" and not only aren't there the 9 for the proper size, but there aren't even 8 to match the first bootie! Only 7!!!!

WTF again...

I rip out a few times then do a bit of finagling and get the 8 scales worked in, then have to do more finagling to work in the same button loop as on the right bootie since directions for left bootie don't address it.

So I let stepdaughter know when I was almost done with first bootie (she thrilled!) and a few days later I get text message asking if crocheted Care Bears pattern looks too hard because she is having a Care Bears birthday party for the grandchild this year, in May.

I told her my hand is swollen and painful and the bone at the base of my thumb is sticking out (like a gross foot bunion) and I need a rest from knitting/crocheting for a while and would not want to promise I'd have the bear(s) done for next month. Which is all true.

I will NEVER make this bootie again.

Ever.

Maybe I will give pattern away to someone else who crochets. I've been crocheting since about 1966 and have never been this disgusted and frustrated with a pattern.

[2banon]

1. Those booties sure look cool.

My crochet skills and experience are not what I'd call sufficient to address these issues. I find doing basic socks too complicated! (sheesh) ...

but nice inspiration. sorry about your arthritis conditions, and thanks for sharing your experience.

[pipi_k]

5. Have you actually done socks?

If so, then these booties...perhaps written a different way...would probably not be all that hard.


Oh, and about the socks...I've done some on the double pointed needles. Total pain in the ass.

Bought a sock loom...way easier!

[2banon]

9. I gave up trying.. Didn't know there were sock looms!!

thanks for that heads up! Beverly Crafts?

[YarnAddict]

11. Try the "magic loop" method

Frankly, I'm too much of a klutz to attempt anything on double pointed needles. I am positive I would stab myself in the neck!!! So, I never did any in-the-round projects. Since I learned magic loop, I've done a number of socks, seamless hats, etc.

[surrealAmerican]

2. That's not a pattern to give away ...

... unless you affix a big red warning label to it. They're pretty cute little things, but a pattern that doesn't yield the desired result without a whole lot of finagling is not one to keep in circulation.

I knit, and don't crochet, but sometimes you can get really useful input on Ravelry from others who have tried the same pattern.

[pipi_k]

6. Huh...

never even thought about Ravelry, to tell the truth...will have to remember the next time I run into a SNAFU.

RE: the pattern...it certainly does deserve a big red warning label. What I don't understand is why the directions haven't been re-written or amended in some way. Especially if enough people are making them using that pattern and complaining.

Lion Brand at least posts pattern changes. I was hoping they would have that pattern, but no...

[knitter4democracy]

3. I think all of us have had this happen at least once.

It's okay to chuck things across the room when it happens, by the way.

[pipi_k]

7. Hee hee...

I felt awful because my outburst scared the poor doggies, who were too shocked to snap up the yarn and run out the doggy door to drag it through the mud

[YarnAddict]

12. I bought a bootie pattern from Craftsy

that seems almost impossible. The designer's first language is clearly not English and the translation is very bad, so you have to translate the translation. "Pick up loop" instead of cast on, etc. No needle size, no yarn weight. It's really terrible!

The pattern includes full-page pictures of each step, so I think I will be able to follow those, but I certainly don't want to print them out, because there are more than 30 pages! If they weren't so darn cute, I think I'd just forget the whole thing. They are high top sneaker-looking booties, and my grandchild-to-be MUST have pairs of these in many different colors!

I made the mistake of not reading the comments before I purchased the patter.

[SheilaT]

4. They certainly look adorable, especially

in the rainbow version. But they also look rather complicated, even without seeing a pattern. Of course, I'm someone who thinks if a pattern is remotely tricky to follow then I won't bother.

I've been amazed when I've been in knitting groups and I see someone beginning a pattern for the third or fourth or more time. Why even bother? is my attitude.

added on edit:
I've been told by some of the most proficient knitters I know that some patterns simply are crap. Yes, I know you were crocheting, but the same opinion probably applies.

I crochet, don't knit.

[pipi_k]

8. Yep, they do

look complicated, but with the right directions, they're quite easy, really.

Just some half double crochet, single crochet, and slip stitches.


As far as the knitted patterns go, yes, even they can be crap. I have a baby blanket I started a few years ago before the other stepdaughter had two miscarriages (so I haven't finished it)...pretty yellow fingering yarn in a lace pattern. One part nearly drove me crazy until I emailed the company it came from and got the amended version.

Honestly, it's what I expect a lot from free patterns, but not patterns we PAY for.

[SheilaT]

14. It really is outrageous that a pattern, whether free or purchased,

should be wrong.

A pattern being complicated is one thing. But incorrect directions? I know I'd be mightily pissed if I got one like that. Keeping in mind that I'm quite lazy and won't do anything that seems to complex, there's still no excuse for directions that aren't right.

[eShirl]

10. I've been tempted to buy that same designer's crocodile stitch hood pattern

but now I'm thinking that would be a bad idea
maybe I'll make my own pattern instead

[Warpy]

13. It sounds like it's a pattern that should go

to somebody you don't like. Imagine how furious a friend would be with it.