Dud Patterns

Well, it happened. I bought a pattern that was a dud.

I ignored the warning signs and let my excitement and a good price get the best of me.

(Disclaimer: As an artist, I try to never take money out of another artist's hand. Even though I suspect this pattern could be fraudulent, there's a chance it could be from a new or young designer who doesn't have a good attention to detail. Just because this pattern is not up to my standard doesn't mean I'm going to "out" the designer or try to hurt their business. That said, I'm including photos so you can tell what I'm talking about. If you want to use the photos to search for the pattern, feel free, but I'm not linking to it of giving obvious info that would hurt the artist or violate their intellectual property.)

Here's what happened...

I found this pretty picture on Pinterest

Cute, right?

The second I saw this asymmetrical poncho, I wanted to make it for my teen daughter.

I clicked through and was brought to the pattern product page, which was on a reputable mega-seller's website. Where the pattern was not, in fact, free, as mentioned in the collage above. No big deal, I thought. Sales come and go while images on the internet are forever.

I noticed the pictures on the product page were different from the one I clicked on back on Pinterest. They were subtle, and I disregarded them when I shouldn't have.

Here is a sampling from the product page:

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The first picture was the same as the bottom, right square of the Pinterest collage, but the other two looked different. Notice how you can't quite identify the exact stitches used on the border or cowl neck in that second photo? Notice how the back of the poncho in the third photo is missing the mandala motif?

Notice how the setting changed drastically from one image to another, suggesting AI created the settings. This, in itself, is not a deal breaker. Lots of legitimate designers use AI backgroudns, but the pool setting was just one of many settings used (I don't show them all here), and the product is always positioned exactly the same.

Put that all together, and, yeah. It's practically a red-flag smorgasboard!

But I still bought the pattern. I was blinded by the great price, $3.49, which was 60% off the original price.

The pattern I got WAS a crochet pattern. I can tell some work went into it. But it was incomplete and inconsistent.

The first problem I noticed after printing out the pattern was the total lack of pictures. There was no assurance the pattern was for the product shown other than the title, which generally described the product pictured.

Image blurred to protect author of the pattern. It's important to respect others' work, even if it's not up to par.

Not dissuaded, I referred to the Pinterest image as I got to work on the pattern. But not too far in, I started to see some problems.

First, the sizing was off. I used the recommended weight of yarn and went down one hook size and ended up with a cowl neck that was...a bit big, lol!

No big deal. I kept going. My daughter likes things baggy. (But I was worried I would have to go out and buy more yarn!)

When I got into the body of the poncho, I got confused. There was only one mention of an increase anywhere in the body. Even though the poncho is worked top down and is very full at the bottom. I was expecting multiple increase rows.

After several, careful readings, I confirmed there was only one increase described.

I'm sharing a small section of the pattern here to demonstrate that the only reference to an increase was in step 14, and no instruction was given to repeat rows or work any further increases.

Worse, step 15 erased the increaes made in step 14.

AND step 15 described cluster stitches, which were not pictured in the original collage.

I began making the cluster stitches, thinking maybe they would become part of the circle motif in the back, but...no. The cluster stitches were going to carry on for the rest of the body. Not only would that really eat up my yarn, but it's not what was pictured in the original collage.

This is where I stopped and really let myself evaluate what I'd done. I bought a dud pattern. Or at least a pattern that was incomplete and inconsistent.

Here's how far I got:

Notice the curling up as a result of not enough increases. And the start of a round of cluster sts.

I admit I was pretty disappointed. This was an afternoon's work, wasted. But, after making a yummy chicken dinner for the fam and sitting down to my crochet again, I realized my time wasn't wasted. Not if I learned something.

And the GOOD NEWS is that I'm turning this lemon into lemonade! I'm crafting my own poncho pattern, and I'll publish it here when I'm done.

Have you purchased dud paterns? Or been disappointed in pattern qualtiy? Tell me I'm not the only one!

xoxo

--Jessi