Need help translating pattern directions.....

[Darlene Gibson]

I'm totally new to this and am trying my very first project. It took about two weeks, after I went supply shopping to buy everything i need, just to feel comfortable enough to start my project. I have been watching videos, researching, and looking for a good start project. I wanted to make this beautiful multi-colored scarf with dangling roses (as if right?) but when I showed my husband the picture (Im really excited about this) he said "Babe, maybe you should start with something easy. Like a little blanket or something. He is probably right. So i found a cute baby throw pattern that I assume should be easy enough for me to try but when I finally built up the courage to just try and start it, I was dumbfounded while looking at directions!! I have my little Crochet Pocket book on my night stand and my craft tote but dont understand the directions. I know the terms but being brand new to this I need it written in simple english versus abbreviations which is normal crochet lnguage but alien language to me. LOL. If any blessed soul could spare some time to maybe translate my pattern to the long version of instructions, or has any tips for me, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you in advance for your time. Below I will post the directions for my pattern.

 

Need translation help:

 

Baby Throw

Lion Brand^® Hometown USA^®

Pattern #: L0278B

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/L0278B.html

 

Pattern excerpt:

Rnd 1 (RS): Ch 3 (counts as dc here and throughout), 2 dc in ring, ch 2, (3 dc in ring, ch 2) 3 times; join with sl st in top of beg ch. Fasten off.
Rnd 2: From RS, join B with sl st in any ch-2 sp, ch 3, (2 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in same ch-2 sp (beg corner made), ch 1, *(3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in next ch-2 sp (corner made), ch 1; rep from * 2 more times; join with sl st in top beg ch. Fasten off.

 

[magiccrochetfan]

Hi, welcome to the ville

 

You might want to review the forum guidelines; because of copyright , we shouldn't post a whole pattern.  It is OK to post a short bit of a pattern, like one row.  This looks like a free pattern from the Lion brand site, so it would be OK to post a link to the pattern.  

 

The patterns on the Lion site have a key for the abbreviations.  it is often helpful to rewrite a pattern using the words instead of the abbreviations.  So for example, you would write out "With A, ch 4; join with sl st in first ch to form a ring" as "with (color) A, chain 4, join with a slip stitch in first chain to form a ring."  

 

I don't know what reference book you have, but one I would recommend is Crocheting in Plain English by M Righetti.  It has an excellent section on reading and using patterns, it explains everything in detail and then shows how it would be written with all the abbreviations.  You can probably find it at your local library.  

[Donna]

Welcome to Crochetville, MrsGibZ! I know all the abbreviations seem hard at first... like learning a new language!

 

If you scroll to the bottom of that Lion Brand Baby Throw pattern, just below where it says, "FINISHING Weave in ends," you will see a list of abbreviations and what they mean. Below that is also a link to Lion Brand's Learn to Crochet instructions. I think you will find both of those helpful.

 

After going over that material, if you still find it difficult to read with the abbreviations, you may want to copy the pattern into a Word doucment, and use the find-and-replace feature to replace all the abbreviations with their full words. That may help you feel more relaxed as you read the pattern while you are crocheting.

 

This last part is just my personal opinion. I know a lot of people start out learning crochet with the granny square (which is what this afghan is). I think granny squares are not the easiest thing to start with. Something simpler might be better, especially since you are learning on your own. Although that pattern is labeled Easy, there is a lower level called Beginner. You could search Lion Brand's PatternFinder^® for either of these:

 

baby afghan crochet beginner

afghan crochet beginner

 

Or if you still want to do a scarf:

 

scarf crochet beginner

[Granny Square]

Sometimes for complex doily patterns where I row of instructructions is really loooong and complex, I pencil in hash marks between key hunks of instruction visually break it up, which helps me keep my place. 

 

Building on Donna's suggestion of pasting the pattern into Word, you could do somethng like this for the first line of the pattern you pasted to break it up into easier to digest steps:

 

Rnd 1 (RS): Ch 3 (counts as dc here and throughout),

2 dc in ring,

ch 2,

(3 dc in ring, ch 2) 3 times;

join with sl st in top of beg ch.

Fasten off.
 

Good luck.  I think after a couple of rounds you'll have the lingo down and won't need a translator. 

[acraftylady]

If you have never crochet a granny square here is a nice tutorial for just one square then work your way up the the blanket after practicing this.    Mary