Recently a neighbor a asked if I could help her with something. There was a knitting pattern her daughter had seen for a toque with the girl guides' logo on it, but the mom couldn't knit. She was wondering if she bought the yarn if I would make her two of the hats. I said I'd be delighted to, and drew her attention to the number of stitches per 4" the pattern called for. I figured her buying yarn wouldn't be too hard especially since I gave her the name of a local yarn shop.
It turns out the daughter's super-sensitive to fibres and it took a while (and several shops) for them to find a yarn that works for her. It's a stunning blue, it knits up great, I really love it, it's also 9 sts per 4" rather than 18. I can play with needles a bit but nothing that's going to bridge the gap between those numbers, but it's a toque knit flat with a logo in the middle. I re-worked the logo on graph paper (the original chart would have taken up half the hat), it looks fine, and I knit the hat.
Before I did though, I realized the originally pattern is absolutely terrible. It shows the hat in numerous sizes, had written instructions for one, but doesn't specify what size the written instructions are for. The chart's colours are reversed (the white part on the chart is supposed to be coloured on the hat and visa versa), and has instructions like "do ribbing. The best is either k2p2 or k1p1 and if you knit the stitch on one side you purl it on the other." I feel like anyone who can make a hat with just those type of instructions would have done fine with only the picture and a chart and that those who need instructions because they're a bit newer would be lost.
All in all this has given me a real appreciate for well written patterns and emphasized the importance of good technical writing and checking my patterns for errors. I also think it is awesome that this mom went to three different yarn stores.
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