The Booties From Hell...a cautionary tale

[pipi_k]

Down below in a thread from months ago I said I would post photos from my latest scarf project. Well, I haven't finished because I have a few other projects going on plus some arthritis issues with my right thumb, but anyway...

Middle stepdaughter posts on Facebook asking if this bootie:



would be too hard to make. She wants the rainbow colored one for her 3 year old daughter.

Never did crocodile stitch before, so I find You Tube video, and watch...nope...looks relatively easy, and once you get the hang of it, it's very simple to do. So I tell her I can do it, and give her the supply list...special yarn if she wants the same rainbow look...she will buy it.

I buy the actual pattern itself since it's not free anyplace I look.

I receive the yarn but hand is killing me so I wait a few days before starting, but find that required crochet hook (Size F) is missing from my collection. Where it is, I don't know...other project, maybe? Can't find, so I order a second set of bamboo hooks (I like having extras)...13 of them. Two days later I receive...ready to get started....WTF????? NO SIZE F!!!

I go to Amazon to complain but then notice in product description that size F was not included in list of sizes. WTF again!!!

So I keep the set and order a single size F hook. Two more days go by. Yay...it gets here. I proceed to crochet booties.

Well, whoever wrote the instructions should be horsewhipped.

I do the sole and base row then, following directions exactly, attempt to get row for start of bootie top.

but nooooo...!!!!!

No matter how many times I count the number of stitches around, I can't get the same number that will also match the photo in pattern.

SIX times I try, then, frustrated beyond all belief, I stomp off into another room to cool down. Then I come back and email company I bought pattern from. I have an idea of how to do this, but just want to make sure I'm right.

They say they will respond within 48 hours, but three days later no reply, and I email again, at which point they tell me yes, I can do it a whole different, easier (and more logical) way. Well why the HELL didn't they write the directions that way???

I get through the bootie part and go to start the cuff...I do the "scales" and find that even though I've followed directions for the large size, I only have 8 "scales", not the 9 I'm supposed to have. Rip out a couple of times, then say "screw it"...one less scale isn't going to matter. Finish off first bootie...looks pretty good.

I start second bootie. Do sole and start of top same way as first bootie, then because buttons are on opposite side from first bootie, there are different directions.

I get to cuff and go to put in v-stitches and "scales" and not only aren't there the 9 for the proper size, but there aren't even 8 to match the first bootie! Only 7!!!!

WTF again...

I rip out a few times then do a bit of finagling and get the 8 scales worked in, then have to do more finagling to work in the same button loop as on the right bootie since directions for left bootie don't address it.

So I let stepdaughter know when I was almost done with first bootie (she thrilled!) and a few days later I get text message asking if crocheted Care Bears pattern looks too hard because she is having a Care Bears birthday party for the grandchild this year, in May.

I told her my hand is swollen and painful and the bone at the base of my thumb is sticking out (like a gross foot bunion) and I need a rest from knitting/crocheting for a while and would not want to promise I'd have the bear(s) done for next month. Which is all true.

I will NEVER make this bootie again.

Ever.

Maybe I will give pattern away to someone else who crochets. I've been crocheting since about 1966 and have never been this disgusted and frustrated with a pattern.