How do you read a new pattern?

[angel]

I usually skim through a pattern before I buy it, to make sure I understand it but if it's a pattern online or one I already have, I just follow each row and keep my fingers crossed!

 

-- Michelle

[darski]

Gee Michelle, it must be hard to crochet that way - :rofl

 

 

but I do it all the time too

[Cuddlefish]

If it's very old or in a foreign language, I usually look through it to make sure there's not something going on that I never heard of before. That way I can mull over the strange parts all the way until I get to them. Otherwise I think I just jump right into it.

[Aggie May]

I take a quick squizz to see if it is a US or European pattern but I certainly do not read the whole thing through. That would be like trying to read a Foreign Dictionary.

I always read the pattern with a hook and yarn in my hand because it is much easier to read & do as you go.

I can sometimes see what is needed without reading the pattern but then I do most of my stuff without patterns.

After so many years, it is easy to work out most things.

I did use a pattern to start off with my recent Ripples because I had not made one in about 30yrs but I soon realised I did not really need the pattern once I got the formula right.

It is a bit like the Pantene ads, "It wont happen overnight, but it will happen."

Everyone has the ability to do what I do, once they have a little more experience.

Have fun.

Colleen.

[quiltmum66]

I am skimmer too So it is with german patterns. But by the english pattern I must read slowly because some meanings I dont understand first but if I read it a second time and I look at the pattern I understand it. Now I crochet more english patterns as german and I am very surprise how good I understand now the patterns

 

Kerstin

[unicorn37757]

I usually try to skim through the whole pattern looking for little things I've had problems with before & hate to find half way through making something:eek

[WendyLee]

Well I basically read a row and do it. If I am shopping for a pattern I will look at the picture and check for a "special stitches" list. And of course the material requirements. I don't think I have ever read all of the rows before hand.

[Catiebug]

I usually skim through it just because I've run into enough patterns in the past where everything isn't listed in the materials list. I'm usually crocheting late at night, or someplace (like on an airplane) where it's not convenient to just run out and get the something else that they didn't bother to mention at the beginning. So, I skim it to make sure I have all the materials before I get started.

[darski]

When the poll started we had more people who did a quick skim of the pattern; that has now evened out and has been running neck and neck for a bit.

 

Interesting stuff

[hooked2]

The way the item looks in the photo (gotta have a picture!) determines whether I make it or not. I don't really look at the pattern until I start it! And even if I run into a new stitch, I just forge ahead until I figure it out - and go from there.

[kathome]

I LOVE to read patterns. It's like crocheting inside my head. I know - I'm wierd. I also love to read recipes - - like cooking in my head. My DH scratches his head and looks at me strangly when he sees me with a pattern book. He says that it looks like a WWII secret code.

[Auntie Kellie]

I read through the pattern carefully. This way, I can plan ahead the amount of time I have and material I need to finish it and make a practice swatch of any new stitches I encounter.

[xampx]

im a skimmer, i check that i know all the stitches and if i do, i dont really go any further until i get to that part of the pattern.

If there is an obvious bit of the pattern that looks kinda difficult, i find that bit too to make sure i understand it before starting, but generally i just jump in there and dont even use patterns

[JoBug]

Me,if I see a pic of what I like, I get the pattern, hook and yarn or thread and start it, row by row..I find if I try to read the pattern through, it confuses me, but I can work it..lol..I am wierd!!

[darski]

I tend to be very concrete in my thinking too so I like to have the yarn and hook in hand to try to figure something out from the directions. Have a "real" stitch in front of me makes it make more sense. That's why I read just what I need a row at a time.

 

I have been known to do a quick skim to confirm that a pattern is what it looks like though.

[Phoenix]

I do a quick skim once I spot a pattern I like because I am pattern chicken I don't do many patterned projects and am always backing off of things because it looks like it would take more concentration than I can muster at the moment. I might try more ambitious projects if I just jumped in and did it without testing the water first

[Starr]

I voted for skim, but I also sometimes read through the pattern a bunch of times, then I go row by row as I do it, sometimes reading the row a few times to make sure I am getting it right. There have been so many times where I mis-read patterns or totally miss something important and mess up the project.

[needlesandpinza]

my vote is for all the above, some are pretty self explanitory per the picture some need careful reading thru the entire thing, some are read line by line.

it just depends on the pattern itself

[SnoPeach]

I tend to at least take a quick skim through for trouble spots (like seams and joinings) and the number of rows (especially for doilies!) which I generally take to be an indication of how long it will take.

Like a few others, if there's no yarn at hand, or if I need reading material, I'll sometimes read a pattern through in detail. But then, I can get just about as engrossed in a dictionary or in a cookbook - and the Internet can suck HOURS out of my sleep (and crochet) time!

[tezen]

I am a skimmer lol. I look for stitches I don't like. How many rows. How many color changes.

Then if I decided to go ahead, I read row by row as I go.

[sammimag]

I think I'm a skimmer depending on the pattern. If it's a garment I like to have some idea of what steps I will take. If it's doily I just start. Basically a pattern makes the most sense to me as I go. It seem to me each part build up the part before it makes the most sense to me while I'm doing rather then when I read it.

[judianne]

I'm wondering how many people check out a pattern by reading it all before starting it...

 

I know situations vary but just generally how you proceed.

 

I almost never read a pattern through - which has reulted in increases to my yarn stash as I moved on to other things:P

But I do scan them for things like too many color changes

...or stitches (such as tunisian) that I haven't done enough of to feel like I've mastered them yet. Other than that I'm always trying new patterns - which is how I came across pieces using the bobbin technique, where you work the different colors in the piece as you go, and beautiful pictures emerge:c9 .

[Ellie 13]

The way the item looks in the photo (gotta have a picture!) determines whether I make it or not. I don't really look at the pattern until I start it! And even if I run into a new stitch, I just forge ahead until I figure it out - and go from there.

 

This is the way I do it too. If it doesn't have a skill rating, I check to see if it has stitches I don't know. Sometimes they put the special stitch instructions just before the part where they are needed. I don't buy many new patterns, I just look at a design and sometimes create my own pattern.

Ellie 13

[CLLinda]

I read it all the way through before I attempt it. I think it is just that I don't want to get stumped half way through, wondering what the heck to do next.

 

Or if there is something I think could be tricky, then I try that step first (if possible) before starting the whole pattern.

 

[jura2908]

since i am a very visual person i have to read as i go so i can see what they ar talking about. i would imtimidate and confuse myself if i read it all first.

 

nadine