As it turns out, I deleted all of the previous emails from Melanie once they were dealt with. So I had to go back to the publishers website www.stcbooks.com and try to get in touch with her again. I must say that she did respond quickly with the problems in Handknit Holidays and after consulting her knitter, she gave me the corrections. The corrections thus far for Handknit Holidays are found in the KAL sidebar. I think someone also found a mistake in a chart, look in the archives on the KAL site.
So I am just waiting for her reply. Some have asked of what I wrote...and I didn't save a copy, as I should have. It was along the lines of "pure disappointment....the need for test knitting before publishing and we knitters spending $42 on a book of mistakes...wanting the corrections...then expecting nothing less than a corrected edition of the book once all the errata has been corrected."
For those of you who want to knit the Basalt Tank, here are the corrections that I have come up with:
Inside Section.Rows 9, 11, 13, 15 and 17 PURL.
After picking up 33 stitches from side E of hexagon 3, you are suppose to cast on 67 stitches, not 34.
Look, I can understand "typos"...heck if you read my blog, you may come across many. It's the errata that is troublesome to me. I just believe that it is totally unacceptable...I am sorry, I will not beat a dead horse here...you know my feelings.
What about cookbooks? Are the recipe's tested before publishing?
I am now thinking that there is a conspiracy going on with these knitting books...so they wait for all the knit bloggers to go crazy over the book, buy it, knit the projects and find all of the errors themselves? Why test knit the published pattern when the bloggers will do it for you?! I think every knitting book I own has significant mistakes in it. This is very sad.
There are some interesting thoughts in the comments of the previous post...read them and see what you think. I will dwell on it no more. When a response comes, I will inform you.
Let's move on for now. The Basalt Tank has been ripped. I decided to do so when I saw this.
The wonderful talents of other knit bloggers...let's support each other!
Here are the current swatches...
Bea and Cherry.
Shall we talk a bit about Kim Hargreaves Kits?
Here are my thoughts.
Beautiful presentation. The yarn is wonderful, but you can usually find it in your LYS or discounted some where on the web. The buttons are gorgeous...also something you would be able to find on your own. The pattern, classic Kim Hargreaves, love it.
Here is the problem.
Cost. The kits are not cheap...and on top of that, the delivery man wanted duty and taxes totally $27 canadian. Hmmmmm. I could have bought a whole other knitting pattern book...errors and all!
I have emailed Kim in regards to just purchasing the patterns and she is not doing that now...Oh how I wish she would...one can hope.
As a gift, the kits are wonderful...thank you. But will I be ordering another one to pay for that. Not likely.
15 comments:
Ah, super cute pattern that you've picked out! I read through the comments to your last post, and there's nothing which can justify the mistakes you've found, and it is entirely your choice to relinquish this pattern whenever you please. That's all :).
Re: cookbooks and testing, some are, some are not. My DH used to work at quite a wonderful Mexican restaurant in New York, the owner of which "wrote" a cookbook. Not only was nothing tested, the recipes weren't even hers!! Shameful! And then to see her on TV hawking the thing...
Thank you for keeping us informed re: a response. I think I still want to buy this book and it will be helpful to know where we can get a sort of errata.
The new top is very cute! Good substitute!
I agree with you about the errata being unacceptable. And you are perfectly justified to have that opinion! :)
I've heard that cookbooks have the most typos/errata of any book published, because while there may be a half-dozen pairs of eyes that will realize that the comma is misplaced, it's possible that no one besides the author (and possibly test cook) will understand upon looking at the recipe that the "t" should have been a "T," or 1/3 should be 11/3. I once heard of a very expensive cookbook, all in color, in which no one noticed that the chocolate cookie recipe cotained no chocolate until after all the copies were in the warehouse.
Ah books with mistakes are very annoying. I own every Jo Sharp book and I always check her website, and yes several pages of printing material later, I have the corrected version. I do agree that knitting books are not cheap so this should be rectified. It is their name that is on the book and myself would feel very embarrassed if my patterns did not work out. I guess that is why I do not design knitwear. The Kim Hargreaves kit I agree is very expensive. I too love her designs but no kit will be coming my way in Australia. Too expensive for me. Hope all goes well with your next knit.
I agree wholeheartedly about Kim Hargreaves' pattern kits. I love her stuff but it's way too pricey. I'm glad you emailed her. I think I'll do the same!
Yah know, honestly I'm pissed about Handknit holiday's. So far I've onlyknit the log cabin socks. Some of the instructions seem a little wierd but so far I've got 1.5 socks and going strong. I can only see the refusal to test knit is going to bite them in the tuckas with the next book. A lot of knitters will think long and hard about buying a book from that author again.
And a word to all the publisher of knitting magazines & books. Smarten up!
I don't understand about the lack of test knitting -- it seems like there would be thousands of knitters in blogland that would jump at the chance at no charge. Oh well...the pattern on the green swatch is nice, very soothing.
don't you just love cherry?I bought the pattern last night and need to free up some needles for it to jump on!
$42? $42?! Forty-two dollars?!?! [Canadian, I'm assuming.] The patterns have not been test knit?!?! That's shameful. This book had been on my list. Not anymore! At least, not until I hear that there's a comprehensive errata.
Meanwhile that KH stitch pattern in that bouncy yarn is fabby.
Wow. Sorry to hear about that Basalt tank. It looked like a really good project.
Oh, dear. I just got the Knitting Nature book today and was so stoked about it. I was ready to dive in, until Nancy tipped me off to your problems.
I guess if I decide to go ahead with a pattern, I will have to expect the mistake is not necessarily mine. I've run into this before with patterns from Interweave Knits, and I always assume the mistake is mine, and figure out later the chart or pattern is wrong.
Yes to test-knitting! That's a no-brainer, huh? Thanks for posting all this.
I just wrote a mini-review on my blog about K.Nature and I mentioned that I'd check the publisher's website for any corrections before starting a pattern---my instincts were right... based on your unfortunate experience. They also misspelled Berroco on the jacket flap--a red flag for sloppy editing. And I found an error in the new Dawn Brocco cable book...sigh. Your swatches are cheering me up though!
Thank you for posting the link to the corrections on Handknit Holidays.
I recently made the Candy Cane Hat and figured I'd just made a mistake, but surprise, surprse, I was too lazy to fix it.
My I-cord on the top of the hat ended up with an extra stitch. It looked decent and was a gift, so it had a deadline. I'm just glad that there's a good reason for my mistake. Thanks again,
Allie
Love your blog! I agree about the Kim Hargreaves kits. They are too expensive with all the extra charges. If they had a US or Canadian distributor it would work better, since the shipping, tariffs, and exchange rates can add so much. The price probably includes UK Value Added Tax as well...
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