Do they ever test their patterns!?

[Stitchinpick]

Our local JoAnn's put out some crochet books for clearance, and I picked up a Leisure Arts, Anne Halliday booklet on making easy crochet rugs. Has anyone else ever made any of these? When I was casually reading the first pattern I found dumb (minor) mistakes in the beginning of the first pattern. Geez! Does that mean all of the patterns in it are messed up? I can usually figure out what they really meant to say, but I hate it when they are flat out screwed up.

 

I feel like Leisure Arts must not have testers proof their patterns. Before I spend a fortune on the pattern and yarn and puts several hours of work in something, I like to feel confident it will work.

 

Do you find LA to have alot of mistakes or have I just had a run of bad luck lately? Hmmmm...I feel like writing an "onion" letter.

[racerose]

Yes, I find many mistakes in Leisure Arts patterns and I find them difficult to understand. It stunk when I was a beginner crocheter and didn't know better....even simple dishcloth patterns were klonky!

[lene]

I was wondering about this! I've only bought a couple patterns, mostly because I have been doing patterns found online or from books I've gotten at the library. But I was thinking I'd like to start picking up a few pattern booklets, and wasn't sure which to trust. Are the Annie's Attic ones usually good, and not riddled with errors? I don't trust my own ability to detect mistakes and correct them before I make a hash of a project.

 

Lene'

[winstongang]

I was getting irritated just last night over this very issue! I'm working on a sweater for Natalie, very simple design, but the pattern directions have several mistakes! I had to frog back a couple of times to fix problems that wouldn't have occured if the instructions were written properly (The book in question is "Crochet for Tots"). And they were stupid things too! Grr.

 

Megan

[crochet smartcat]

I have the Leaflet/Booklet "Desperate Crochet" by Leisure Arts I believe and have tried 2 patterns out of it. One was fine and I had no problems with it, the other one, the stitch count versus guage was wrong. Someone hadn't checked their math very well. The pattern worked out fine, but it threw me for a loop that someone couldn't multiple correctly.

[smyz64]

Yes, I bought a booklet for a christening gown, it was my first thread project, and the back yoke had directions for 2 right sides. I had to turn it all backwards to get the left side.

[craftybutterfly]

I HATE it when that happens! I've often wondered how newbie crocheters get through some of these. I can imagine some have given up thinking they just dont get it, when in reality, its just a poorly written pattern.

[Stacey]

Hmm. I've never found what I knew to be a mistake in one of their leaflets (I only have a few from them, though) but once, when I had only been crocheting a couple of months, I was trying to make a dishcloth pattern out of one of their leaflets, and I just could not get it right. At the time I thought it was me, since I was new and all, but a V-stitch is just not that hard, so who knows? Maybe I'll dig it up and see whether it was me or the pattern

[donnalynn2]

This seems to happen quite frequently! I may be the only one this happens to, but I love to make some of the wearables that are in Crochet Magazine and so far each one I've made has had an error of some kind. The one item I made (if you made it according to the measurements given) would have made the thing not even close to the right shape or size. Heck, even "simple" things are a pain to fix. I made a poncho out of the mag a few months ago and this one requires a shoulder strap to be attached. I attached it exactly where the instructions said to and when I looked at it, there's no way anyone could wear it because it was smack dab in the middle of the head hole, not off to the side. It seems to happen more and more lately...

[katysam]

I was getting irritated just last night over this very issue! I'm working on a sweater for Natalie, very simple design, but the pattern directions have several mistakes! I had to frog back a couple of times to fix problems that wouldn't have occured if the instructions were written properly (The book in question is "Crochet for Tots"). And they were stupid things too! Grr.

 

Oh no! That is one of the books on my wish list! In light of this thread and the feedback on the thread I started today, I'm going to start a new thread for listing reliable pattern books/companies.

[Jsilvers]

Maybe we need a thread for specific pattern errors and corrections.