Seeing a Pattern the Right Way

I don’t know why, at times, I cannot “see” or “read” a pattern correctly. I know I am not alone in this. A few ladies in our senior mobile home park of over 400 homes, get together every Friday and make things for the needy - the homeless, nursing home residents, preemies. We share patterns that are quick and easy.

It seems as though there is not a week goes by when one of us does not come in and say, “You know that pattern for the xxxx from last week? Did you have trouble at the wrist (or the number in the starting chain, or the length when done)? Almost without fail, one of us will reply, “Yes, and I adjusted it by doing so-and-so.”

I’m not sure whether the fault lies in ourselves. Maybe we second-guess ourselves and try to go too quickly because we’ve been crocheting or knitting for so many years. More likely, if we all have the same problems, it is in the pattern itself.

I suspect it is very hard to proofread a pattern and designers have pattern testers they lean on. However, the testers might be so experienced that they move right along, adjusting as they go, not realizing that others might not know to do so.

There’s nothing I can offer as a solution to this universal problem. All I can do is share the fact that we’ve all been there, done that, and that you are not alone. We sympathize with you; we laugh with you after you figure it out and laugh at yourself. Mostly, we just make do.