Adventures In Frogging

With all love and respect to the tech editors that have to run through patterns and make sure they are correct, sort out the math and what not. I know it's a tough job but I just have to interject a wee rant here.

Now with a free pattern grabbed off the net by someone not used to writing a pattern one might expect some mistakes. However! When I drop cash I expect the patterns have been gone over enough that it should be reasonably easy to sort out the pattern and get it complete with a relative amount of ease. Lately I found several errors in a publication and I felt a little teeny bit annoyed after paying for this.

Now I will grant you we are all human and I'm not going to name names but deal with the party privately. Nothing is perfect. That said don't we have some right when paying for a pattern[s] to be able to make them without having to rewrite the pattern to try to get something that actually works?

One of the patterns with a mistake was a hat that was just a math nightmare. Increases and decreases just didn't match up with the end totals at all. This threw everything off because there were certain turns and joins that didn't line up properly to be able to complete the pattern. I frogged it over and over and tried to get it to work out. The last round of frogging lead me to actually sit down and try to rewrite the pattern so I could actually make the hat. It was at that point that this rant post started to form. I thought to my self what in the world am I doing?

I just paid for a pattern that I have to write! I really didn't know if I should laugh or cry. Now I don't spend money on published patterns and books often because I'm on a really tight budget right now. I felt really frustrated. I felt I just spent money that was scrimped for a treat on something that was nearly useless. Yes I'm experienced enough that I probably can sit down and sort it out in the end but that's not the point. I put it aside for now and perhaps at some point I will take it out when the frustration has passed and do just that. I guess I'm just disappointed that my "treat" ended up being more of a headache than anything else.

What in the world could have happened? How could something with so many errors come through from editing to publishing? Did the editor have any crochet experience at all? I may never know the answers but I really hope the industry does their very best to improve. In the current economy who can afford to toss good money at a luxury item [yes I consider pattern books a luxury item as compared to necessities like food and rent] that isn't going to be usable? Not many.

Has something like this happened to you? Have you ever been frustrated with a pattern or book? Post a comment and share your story. Thank you readers if you're still with me after all that. I feel a bit better now. Okay, where's my hook. ;-)