Let me paint you a picture.
My kids are nuts. So, trying to knit while they are awake is almost impossible.
They are boys, and part italian, so I try to cut them some slack.
It was a crazy day yesterday...planting flowers...getting them to put down the dead baby bird they found in the sand box...scrubbing them down...get to the gym for an hour...make dinner...mess everywhere all the time...constantly repeating myself....all day....DH will be late...get them ready for bed...Whining...constantly whining from a tired two year old...I just want to sit and knit for one minute. I just want to cast on and do a couple rows of the hexagon 5.
They jump from couch to couch as I try to do this...I keep sending down to the playroom...I finally cast on and do a couple rows then give up and decide to just get them to bed.
DH finally comes home and helps with that...and I get to sit. I knit and knit....and start to relax from the hectic day.
DH falls asleep on the couch...yet again...as I knit and watch CSI...and knit...and finish hexagon 5. I decide that I could last till 11 p.m., so I cast on for hexagon 6 to join the whole garment in the round.
Now comes the good part. The climax, shall we say....
What...what is wrong here? I am picking up side b of 2 and side b of 4...hey this doesn't look right.
NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Let's just have a moment of silence for me, please.
Take a deep breath.
OMG! NO! Was it my mistake? Or the pattern?
Oh please...how can this happen? I thought I made it through a hexagon with a problem. What is the problem you ask?
Well, let me tell you. (my blood is starting to boil just writing about it...I may have a heart attack)
This hexagon is suppose to be 5/6 NOT 4/6. I know this...but I just count the stitches inbetween the markers...that is what you need to keep track of...please...don't think I am that stupid.
I don't know if I am so mad at myself or just clearly infuriated with this pattern.
IT IS THE PATTERN!!!!!!
After picking up 33 stitches from side E of hexagon 3, you are suppose to cast on 67 stitches, not 34.
The joy and interest of knitting this pattern is gone. I know I should have noticed, but I am constantly distracted...
For those of you who have bought this book, please get yourself a big red marker and write the following across the cover...
WARNING: THE PATTERNS IN THIS BOOK HAVE NOT BEEN TEST KNIT.
I have put it down. So long, farewell, we have to bid goodbye...
But wait...the doorbell...hello delivery man with my mothers day gift...
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
WAIT...What is this?
Knitting is sometimes very disappointing.
Excuse me, I now am going to draft my letter to Melanie Falick...don't worry, I have her email address from the mistakes I found in her other book...Handknit Holidays.
29 comments:
Sorry to hear you are giving up knitting this top:(. I was always amazed by how quickly you pump out stuff inspite of your crazy daily life! How do you do it???
Oh no! I was going to buy Hand Knit Holidays. Though I know this is not the point, has she published errata? So sorry for your frustration.
oh man, this sounds so frustrating. I hate when patterns don't work. Hope things go better with the KH pattern!
It's best just to move along. Maybe you'll feel like reworking everything another day/year. And then again, maybe you'll have a great time ripping it all out (I bet the boys would help you with this) and using the yarn for another pattern...one that is tried and true.
Aww, the KH sweater is really pretty. I hope that one works out much better.
That sucks! It sucks hardcore. You have all my sympathies and I hope that the next thing you knit is problem free.
I am so sorry...at least it wasn't you! Thanks for the heads up...maybe Kimmy will be better.
I think Knitting Nature was written by Norah Gaughan, not Melanie Falick.
....being that I don't have the pattern to go through to understand how that's supposed to go together.... I have no idea what is wrong in that picture.
I hope you figure it out and continue - it is quite a lovely project and you're doing a great job so far.
Ahh... I see, it's written by Norah Gaughan, published by Melanie Falick Books. :D Next time I'll go look it up before asking!
My heart cries out for you. It had such potential! Enjoy those little guys - at least you know they are in bed at 9:00 pm and do not have a driver's license yet!!
I hate you had problems with this top. I was patiently waiting to see what it was going to look like because that was the project that really grabbed my attention. Now I'm very leary to make this purchase. I'm sure you'll have better luck with the Kim Hargreaves. Happy Knitting!
Oh...yes, I wouldn't be very happy about that either....in fact, I'd have been pretty p**sed off about it....
But well, life goes on, and so is knitting. :)
Oh man! I'm horrified to hear about all the mistakes! I definitely have my ears wide open for other patterns in the book which are this error-ridden!
I had my suspicions about this book, since it was published by the same publisher as the loop-d-loop book by Durham. According to different blogs the patterns are full of errors.
Shame about the top, it was on my next to do list:-(
I have been following your path with the top and don't know what to say. From the happy expectations to a huge disappointment... Hope you find something better soon!
oh boy...i just found out that my favorite books are riddled with errors!
I'm am just totally disgusted about these books. And that sad part is, I just bought it thinking it would be not only an inspiration but a good addition to my knitting library. I'm curious to hear what the authors response is. It's unnacceptable and I hope that they are prepared to offer some sort of replacement.
RIP Basalt tank. I'm so sorry. I think it was time. It's in a better place now.
Aww. Well that just stinks. Let us know what the author says!!
(and dear god you're a fast knitter!)
:D
Can you share where you have posted about the errata in the Handknit Holidays?
Oh Man, I just bought this book yesterday and now I'm scared, I'm not nearly as good a knitter as you and I have young children, too. Thanks for telling us about this though, we need to know these things. Move on I say, there's not time enough to fix the family's problems let alone test knit for published authors. Best luck with your next project.
I couldn't really follow all your details about the tank, but I am very sorry you are having a hard time. I hear your frustration and I can understand it....so much for knitting to relax, eh? Hang in there!
Oh I am so sorry to hear about this. It is so *bleeping* frustrating when a pattern is riddled with errors. I experienced that on my Stripes and Webs. I agree with you wholeheartedly that EACH size needs to be test knitted. Oh so frustrating - and it looked so cute.
I may have to wait awhile now before attempting to buy that book!
I'm so very sorry.
I am so sorry!! With a resident 5 and 3 year old I understand the pain of precious knitting time spent in vain. Hope things improve!!!
(ans I was so excited about this book!!)
You have sacrificed for the good of the herd. Little comfort, but I do thank you for pointing this out.
I am sorry the pattern is such a mess, as this is the #1 thing I want to knit from this book! Take a deep breath and knit something soothing for a while!
I did feel obligated to add, though, that errors don't mean a pattern has not been test knit. Test knitting almost certainly happens at the writing stage (see Gaughan's header for the Vortex sweater, where she comments that she gave a test knitter the sweater to knit before she'd fully charted the cable pattern). After the test knitting, the designer produces a manuscript, which is what she turns in to the publisher. Maybe she originally wrote the pattern by hand and now has to type it up. Errors are introduced. Then it goes to page layout, where, in an illustrated book like this, things are moved around, copy-cut-pasted and generally fiddled with to make the text fit the pages nicely around the pictures, maybe to fit design specs like keeping every pattern to two pages (fewer pages = cheaper book), etc. More errors are introduced. And sure, everything is copyedited along the way, but even if the copyeditor is a knitter, there's only so much you can do--how often have you caught errors in a pattern just by reading it? The only real way to ensure no errors is to test knit *after* typesetting (which is essentially what we readers are doing), but the time between laying out the pages and printing the book is only a couple months at most--not enough time to test knit every size of 39 patterns. Yes, some publishers are worse than others when it comes to errors--but that's most likely due to the amount of time/money they devote to careful (obsessive) copyediting, not to knitting after typesetting.
Anyway, I'm not saying that this amount of errors is acceptable (I am regarding my own copy of the book as if it were a coiled snake now!), but it is not necessarily due to the designer's laziness/cheapness in not hiring test knitters.
This just stinks! I spent a goodly amount of money on the book, loved to look through it and plan what I was going to knit, just to find out how much trouble your having on your's - the publisher owes us all who purchased it in good faith a corrections,an explanation and a new darn book!!! I'm pissed!
You need to insist on a refund for all your yarn.
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