Stuck on first part of pattern

[sunnys]

Hello :)

So after a few months on youtube tutorials and patterns with step by step progress photos, I've finally decided to try a purely text-based pattern and immediately got stuck on round 1!! I'm completely lost on what the very last part of the pattern (72dc and 24 loops) means and I'm also unsure if I need to repeat this segment to make a left side if this is the right side? Where am I supposed to put in 72dc here? I've included the portion of the pattern I'm stuck on and a picture of what the final product is meant to look like, if any more clarification is needed please let me know 

[bgs]

That is your stitch count for that round.  If you go back and count you should have made 72 dc and 24 loops in that round.  

Also from your question I dont think you picked up on you will be working in both sides of your chain in order to make both sides of your round.

https://www.ehow.com/how_2093630_crochet-basic-oval-shape.html

Helpful hints on reading patterns can be found here.

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

Edited August 17, 2021 by bgs

[Granny Square]

Oooooh, pretty!  

If I may offer an opinion for someone trying a doily for their first written pattern - I make mostly doilies nowadays, thread is cheap and I think they're fun. I find oval doilies a little....not more difficult, but rather easier to get lost or mess up (and I've been crocheting for decades).  I suggest since following a written pattern for anything is new to you, to start your first written doily pattern with a round doily instead.  

My reasoning - although round doilies themselves aren't mindless projects, because you (usually) have to memorize a different stitch sequence every round, oval doilies are tougher in a way because one round isn't 1 stitch sequence repeated, it's 2 completely different sequences alternated: straightaway > corner > straightaway > corner.  And you have to pay strict attention to where the transition points are.  If you don't have 4 stitch markers handy right now, go find some (bobby pins work great, they're cheap so no big deal if the couch eats 1 now and then).

Bgs gave you a resource for working the beginning of an oval in plain stitches; where your pattern says "working in the free loops of the beginning chain" that is where you start to work on the underside of the chain, using the loops you did not use working across the chain "as usual".

This looks like a Leisure Arts pattern, based on the unusual symbols in the pattern (like the dagger).  The last oval I made was also by Leisure Arts, and I understood what was going on, and what the symbols meant (some of them were embedded which made it even more complicated), and I had stitch markers at the 4 transition points between the sides and the corners, but I had to pay a whole lot more attention to 'where I was' (and still goofed and had to rip a bit a couple of times).  

I am not trying to scare you away from written patterns, or doilies.  It's just that...maybe ease into written patterns by an easier to follow (and equally pretty) round doily. 

Your doily has pineapples, which is a common motif; there are gobs of round pineapple doily patterns out there.  Freevintagecrochet has a bunch.  I think a round pineapple is a good place to start with your first doily, because the pattern (in the round) is predictable and it's not as easy to 'get lost'.

Edited August 17, 2021 by Granny Square

[Granny Square]

This pattern was on that page, the small one might be a good 'practice with written patterns' one, but it's cool that that larger pattern has butterflies at the edge which I rather like, hmm.  

https://freevintagecrochet.com/free-doily-patterns/star137/pineapples-large-and-small-doily-patterns

[sunnys]

3 hours ago, Granny Square said:

Oooooh, pretty!  

If I may offer an opinion for someone trying a doily for their first written pattern - I make mostly doilies nowadays, thread is cheap and I think they're fun. I find oval doilies a little....not more difficult, but rather easier to get lost or mess up (and I've been crocheting for decades).  I suggest since following a written pattern for anything is new to you, to start your first written doily pattern with a round doily instead.  

My reasoning - although round doilies themselves aren't mindless projects, because you (usually) have to memorize a different stitch sequence every round, oval doilies are tougher in a way because one round isn't 1 stitch sequence repeated, it's 2 completely different sequences alternated: straightaway > corner > straightaway > corner.  And you have to pay strict attention to where the transition points are.  If you don't have 4 stitch markers handy right now, go find some (bobby pins work great, they're cheap so no big deal if the couch eats 1 now and then).

Bgs gave you a resource for working the beginning of an oval in plain stitches; where your pattern says "working in the free loops of the beginning chain" that is where you start to work on the underside of the chain, using the loops you did not use working across the chain "as usual".

This looks like a Leisure Arts pattern, based on the unusual symbols in the pattern (like the dagger).  The last oval I made was also by Leisure Arts, and I understood what was going on, and what the symbols meant (some of them were embedded which made it even more complicated), and I had stitch markers at the 4 transition points between the sides and the corners, but I had to pay a whole lot more attention to 'where I was' (and still goofed and had to rip a bit a couple of times).  

I am not trying to scare you away from written patterns, or doilies.  It's just that...maybe ease into written patterns by an easier to follow (and equally pretty) round doily. 

Your doily has pineapples, which is a common motif; there are gobs of round pineapple doily patterns out there.  Freevintagecrochet has a bunch.  I think a round pineapple is a good place to start with your first doily, because the pattern (in the round) is predictable and it's not as easy to 'get lost'.

thank you so much!! I've made a fair few round doilies at this point using written patterns that come with progress photos, and the jump from that into this oval was a lot more than I anticipated. Doilies are really the only thing I'm interested in making so I'm really interested in getting more familiar with reading patterns as soon as possible. I think I was actually on the right track with how I started so I'm gonna keep going and see if I get mega stuck again, and also check out all the amazing doilies you linked! Thank you again for the detailed explanation!

[Granny Square]

You are welcome! That working in the underside of the chain thing at the start is probably the most mind-bendy thing I can imagine in that pattern, the rest is just reading carefully (and stitch markers!).