Pattern help

[Niamh124]

Hi, so I have brought a rainbow crochet kit and I can’t understand the pattern. It says [2dc, 1dc in 2sts] x3. What does this mean. In the next few steps it goes in 3sts then 4sts etc. So is that 2 double crochet in one stitch then 1 in the next stitch x3 or something different? 

[bgs]

This is a good reference on reading patterns.

https://www.craftyarncouncil.com/standards/how-to-read-crochet-pattern

Unfortunately there are many patterns out there that are not conventionally written and we have to puzzle our way thru.  Sometimes you have to work across the row doing what you think it says and if it doesnt work you have to rip it out and try something else.  Sometimes you have to look at previous and or next rows for clues.  There are subtle hints in the wording and punctuation.  From the bit you gave us my best guess is

work 2 dc into 1 stitch of previous row, work 1 dc into next stitch of previous row, work 1 dc in next stitch of previous row

 Repeat the above sequence  2 more times.

Edited March 17, 2021 by bgs
Correction

[criblet]

That's a great reference.

 But I want to ask about, I didn't see any sc in the question -- respectfully, I think that should be dc.

I think the questioner has a fairly good guess in 

5 hours ago, Niamh124 said:

2 double crochet in one stitch then 1 in the next stitch x3

Especially if this is this working rounds, or shaped pieces like amigurumi.

 

Edited March 17, 2021 by criblet
dropped words, fix spelling

[Granny Square]

edited, read something wrong.

Edited March 17, 2021 by Granny Square

[bgs]

 

 

1 hour ago, criblet said:

That's a great reference.

 But I want to ask about, I didn't see any sc in the question -- respectfully, I think that should be dc.

I think the questioner has a fairly good guess in 

Especially if this is this working rounds, or shaped pieces like amigurumi.

 

Thank for catching that I wrote sc instead of dc.  I am on my phone and sometimes mess up scrolling back and forth.

Edited March 17, 2021 by bgs

[Horsy]

12 hours ago, bgs said:

Unfortunately there are many patterns out there that are not conventionally written and we have to puzzle our way thru. 

No kidding.  But there is a difference between un-conventionally written and plain-old badly written.  There was no excuse for the above.  What - are we supposed to be mind readers?  Feh.  I don't think I am exaggerating when I say that there are more than a few crochet patterns that are utterly incomprehensible.  We shouldn't have to muddle our way through, trying this, then trying that, then trying something else, all the while ripping out our previous work. 

[Granny Square]

I may be an old lady set in her ways, and trained by my depression-era raised parents to be frugal, but - I would never buy a pattern from a designer I wasn't familiar with without checking reviews first.  I would, however, buy a book or magazine from a source that I trusted to tech-edit their content, or that at least publish errata (like DRG publications or Leisure Arts, or yarn companies - the latter group usually just make corrections on the pattern page; Lion Brand used to highlight the corrections, not sure if they still do.).

I would try a free pattern from somebody's blog, but if I found errors I'm just out time not money (I can usually repurpose yarn eventually).

Designing a cute thing and being able to write out the pattern clearly are two completely unrelated skills.  

 

[Horsy]

@Granny Square.  And that is why I read all reviews on ravelry, as well as "Comments" in the upper right hand corner.   However, sometimes there are no reviews whatsoever for a seemingly lovely garment.  No photos, nothing.  If this were for an item just recently designed, that is understandable, but sometimes the pattern has been on ravelry for years and it is still available (sometimes paid, sometimes free).   What the hey...sometimes a shawl or other item will have 150 Projects (people who made the item) and other times...nothing. 

OTOH, I don't understand ravelry at all - their culture, lingo & their ways of doing things.  Sometimes I think they are like a private club where the regulars in a Community Group "get it" and everyone else is left scratching their head.  Oh, well.  

[Granny Square]

Me too (look at Ravelry project notes on a pattern) if several people say they 'got stuck at row 12 and quit' for example, there's probably something to it.  I also make comments to potentially to help others if it makes sense to do so ("this is what I improvised on row 12 to get row 13 and the rest of the pattern to work" sort of thing).  

I haven't noticed a Ravelry "culture", there are thousands? of groups (not all active) and nearly 9? million members and some groups or people in them are undoubtedly friendlier than others.  I don't participate in conversations as much there as here, but "where I hang out" most folks are pretty friendly.  And you can 'hide/ignore' someone who you don't want to 'bump into' in the forums for whatever reason.

Hard to say why an available pattern would not have been made by somebody, I haven't noticed but may not have 'drilled down' on many patterns like that...do you select 'English' when you are looking at patterns?  I got into that habit when I got disappointed too may times finding a pattern available only in language X...maybe you are finding Language X patterns that Language X crocheters haven't made yet/aren't interested in?   Or, people may be using Rav to find patterns but don't bother to create projects, or do create a project but don't have the means or inclination to post a photo (I think you have to purposely choose to see projects with no photo).  

 

[Horsy]

Hard to say why an available pattern would not have been made by somebody, I haven't noticed but may not have 'drilled down' on many patterns like that...do you select 'English' when you are looking at patterns? 

Gee, I didn't know we could select languages.  I better go have another look! 

I am a bit lost on ravelry.  I find it a hodge podge.  I can't figure out how to post a photo.  

Anyway, without fail, when I see a speechlessly gorgeous item, something that really speaks to  me, well, lo & behold, 95% of the time the pattern is not available unless you try and track down some old magazine where it first appeared.  Or, yes, it's in a foreign language.   

[Granny Square]

Yeah, it is rather BIG.  It's like, Crochetville is a small town with a main street and a dozen side streets, and it's easy to navigate and bump into people you "know".  Ravelry is more like .... New York City (I suppose).

There are help pages (top menu), I have to admit I've never looked at them.  If you joined in the last couple of months, they changed the ... decor? a few months back, and a lot of people have complained that the new icons and layout are a whole lot less intuitive since the switch.  They fixed a few things, but not everything, and have let people stick with the old decor for a while (which I've done) but that grace period is about to expire.

Re: posting pictures in Rav, there are a couple of ways to do it.  One: for a small fee you can post a pic directly into a post from an external source (I haven't done that, not sure of the details).  Two: create a project, and post pics there; when you are in a forum, and in "post mode" there's a drop-down menu, you can choose a source of the photo and IIRC one of the first choices is choosing a post from one of your projects (you may have to scroll thru a lot to find the right pic)

[Horsy]

Thank you very much, Granny Square.