Failure is my middle name

After my first attempt at making a shrug went horribly awry, I decided to try the other pattern I'd purchased instead. Sadly, this one fared only a little better and it's turned out far too small. I had an inkling it wouldn't come out right - I couldn't get the guage to match up no matter which hook I used. It was either right widthways and wrong lengthways or vice versa, so in the end I just decided to take the plunge. I knew the back was too small, so I upped the number of trebles (US dc) in hope of fixing it, but the sleeves aren't quite right, and I can't get the thing over my nearly non-existent bosom. I'm not going to bother finishing it as I don't think the extra rows will help. I should have gone with a larger hook. Buggeration.

I'm just glad I used cheapo acrylic as I'm obviously destined to cock this up a few more times yet. I may try a different pattern first, as I'm itching to have a go with one of my new jumbo hooks, but I should probably stick with this one now that I've at least got a faint idea of what I'm supposed to do. Then I might treat myself to some decent wool.

Oh, and for some reason, even though I'm sure I read the pattern correctly, I had a larger space on left side than the right side. No idea how that happened, but maybe I'll suss it out on attempt number two.

PS. I have recently acquired a stinking cold, so now I'm feeling doubly sorry for myself. Maybe I branched out from granny squares a bit before I was ready...

You can see what it actually should look like here.

Comments

Anonymous said…
May I be so bold as to ask a question? Are you using the right material as per pattern and the appropriate size crotchet hook? If you cannot conquer this one I am happy to give it a whirl when I get back from my hols. As long as you give me the paatern etc.
Gemma said…
I'm going to have to knit you one, aren't I? But then it'll look like sucking up to the boss...
Shinykatie said…
Thanks to both of you, but that would kind of defeat the object of me making it. After all, you can buy these things for like 20p from Primark.

Oh and mother, of course I was using the right size crochet hook! Like I said, I couldn't get the guage to match with the right size or a larger size.

It must have been the wool (which isn't the right stuff). It's a US pattern so I would have to ship in the right wool from the US.