Frost :: Knitting ::

Wednesday 9 March 2016

* Do not forget to enter my current giveaway here for a chance to win a skein of Fyberspates *


Happy Wednesday everyone! Have you ever wondered whether it was worth buying a pattern? I do quite a bit, especially when it comes to buy a beanie hat one. I am always wondering whether I could not make it myself - after all I do knit a LOT of beanie hats. I should probably know by heart the number of stitches to cast on, I certainly know which ribbing I like best (not the one featured), and then it is just a new stitch pattern. 

I bought the Frost pattern for an easy knit on holiday (as you can see probably not so easy as I am closer to the start than the end), and I was wondering whether it would be worth the money I spent. It took a while to be sure, but a few repeats down the line, I can honestly say that I could not have knitted this on my own (still a lot to learn then!). I never guessed the pattern, but love the effect. Unfortunately I have already spotted one mistake in the pattern, so that's a bit of a shame. 

I am taking this one with me to Brussels today - some people love taking sock projects with them, I am clearly more of a beanie hat person myself. 

I am knitting Frost in Ulysse, colourway Genet

Linking to Yarn Along today. 

9 comments:

  1. I have a hard time justifying buying patterns that don't offer a specific technique or some new method of construction. I feel a lot of patterns are "recipes" that insert a stitch pattern into a generic formula.

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  2. I'm not much of a technical knitter, so I feel like I'm always learning from patterns. So for me it's worth it to pay $6 or whatever to not spend hours ripping out a failed attempt at a hat! :)

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  3. I love your hat but am sorry the pattern is a pain. It is such an unusual stitch pattern and such a pretty color yarn. This is my first visit to your blog, via Yarn Along, and I have enjoyed my visit. I loved reading about your ski trip and seeing your beautiful pictures.
    xoxoxo

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  4. Beautiful hat! I think mistakes prove the hat is handmade not machine knit.

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  5. I like how this colorway is a like a light mustard. The stitch detail is terrific. It can be frustrating to find an error in the pattern.

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  6. Its going to be lovely, I only knit simple patterns when traveling - can't keep count. I do buy patterns, on saturday I bought a purl alpaca headbandy thing my daughter loved. Its easier for me to follow a knit pattern rather than invent my own.

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  7. the hat looks great so far, I hope you have a wonderful time in Brussels! I sometimes buy patterns just to read them, not even to knit them. But I find patterns really fascinating.

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  8. I'm really liking the colour you chose. Too bad there was a mistake in the pattern.....
    Good thing you are a pro!

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  9. I'm a pattern designer, so you can take my opinion as you may, but I think that if it is easier/quicker for me to figure out a design myself, then I will do it. However, sometimes it is truly simpler and faster for me to pay the $3.00 - $7.00 and let someone else do that work. I know how much time goes into, not only knitting up a design, but the calculations and writing and editing of a pattern. I rarely think a pattern isn't "worth" the price, though sometimes I don't have the money for it, and I just pay by taking the hours to come up with a method myself.

    Let me also say that errors sometimes do creep in, no matter how well one revises or edits. Think of how a blog post sometimes has them, even after careful reading and checking. It's hard to spot one's own errors, as one knows what was intended. That is why tech editing and testing are important in patterns, but even magazines and pattern companies with banks of editors and the budgets for them have to publish errata occasionally.

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