Beating my head against a wall....owwww!

This is basically a review of a pattern I've found on the internet.

I'm trying to make the Seraphina shawl. ( Click Here ) and I have to say this is the worst written pattern I've come across in a long time. The designer has errors all thru the pattern... I've attempted this thing several times in the last year and STILL cannot get past the first 3 or 4 rows. Sure, the shawl looks great in other people's pictures...not exactly sure what they did to get the pattern to work for them, I just cannot get past all the mistakes in this pattern.

Sure, she has lots of nice pictures, but the pictures do not always correspond with the text of the pattern. Plus, she changes the direction of the pictures so many times that it's very hard to follow what she's doing. It would be so much easier to do if she'd have the pictures all showing the shawl going in the same direction (example...have the point of the shawl facing down, consistently thru all the pictures, so you can follow the flow of the pattern)

I'd love to be able to make this stupid thing, but it's so confusingly written that I just cannot follow it. I think my only hope will be if Dot Matthews ends up designing her own version of the shawl. I NEVER have problems with Dot's patterns. (ok, so I've been spoiled)

I guess I could sit all day tomorrow and try to figure this shawl out...they're forcasting a "little" blizzard for tomorrow... Lots of nasty ice rain will be coating the roads and sidewalks before the snow, so I'm planning on not going outside if I can help it. I'll have to if the dog has to go potty, but other than that, I'm staying in and hibernating.

I guess I'll go toss out the skein of yarn that I ruined trying to figure out the Seraphina shawl. What a waste.

Finished!!!! How's it look?

I finished the sweater. Here is a picture of my mother, modeling the sweater for me.

And a close up of the finished sleeve

looking more like a sweater now

Here's the sweater with about half a sleeve worked onto it. If my hand doesnt explode from overwork, I should have this finished by this weekend. Here's the pictures

More sweater pictures

Taking a break from the marathon crocheting of this sweater... (darn carpel tunnel syndrome!) I took a couple of new pictures. Did a measurement of the length of the sweater too. From the back of the neck, to the bottom of the sweater, it's now 27 inches. I may yet add another inch or two, but right now have to hold off because I have to make a yarn run to WalMart later for some more blue so that I can do the sleeves.

Here are the pictures

From the front

From the back

I cant wait to finish this, not that I'm not having fun crocheting it, but I'm excited to see what it's going to look like once it's all done.

Sweater in-progress pictures

Here are some pictures of the adult cardigan sweater I'm working on. Got the pattern from Dot's website http://patbythehook.blogdrive.com/ (probably the best crochet pattern writer on the internet)

I diverged from her pattern a little (a lot) I did the yoke exactly as the pattern said, but then I had a problem getting one of the stitches for the body of the sweater to work right for me. (I was dizzy from an ear infection...all drugged up on Dramamine, not much was making sense) So, I decided to do a fan stitch instead. I figured if it didnt work, I could frog it back down to the end of the yoke and start over. Surprised the heck out of me that my fan stitch is working...glad about that....I really didnt want to frog it and start over.

Here's the first picture from the front

From the back

And a close up of the fan stitches

I'm excited about this sweater. I've always wanted to be able to crochet a cardigan sweater, and now it seems I can. I already know it's not going to fit me, but maybe it will make a good Christmas present for someone. I just hope I dont have any problems with the sleeves. (that's my big worry now)