Which pattern did you give up on, and why?

Dear users, dear authors,
is there a pattern that you gave up working on? I don’t mean giving up in the sense of a UFO = unfinished object / craft project, but actually abandoning it completely.

Mod tip:
If you have questions about patterns purchased here on Crazypatterns, you can always ask the relevant author for help. 

No, actually not yet. Somehow everything always gets finished, but there are some things I probably wouldn’t make a second time.
For example, I didn’t like the crocheted socks. They aren’t as soft and stretchy as knitted ones—I thought they were really lame. So I gave them to a friend to prove to her how lame they are, but she thinks they’re great. 😂

The last pattern I bought was for a crocheted sweater. Even when I did the gauge swatch, I noticed that I didn’t like the pattern as much in real life as I did in the product photo. Because of the post double crochets, it felt very “bulky,” and the pattern seemed more cumbersome and heavy rather than light and airy. For me, this isn’t suitable as a summer sweater, so I gave up on it even though the pattern was very thorough and detailed. So it had nothing to do with the pattern itself, but simply with the fact that I couldn’t warm up to the—actually very beautiful—pattern for a sweater. 

Yeah, that happened to me once, too. It was a few years ago. I’d ordered the recommended yarn. Unfortunately, it wasn’t suitable for the project because you couldn’t see the stitches. So I started over with a different yarn. But that “cat” would have turned out pretty big. It wasn’t clear from the pattern, and I don’t like amigurumi that huge.  Even just for the head, it was about 100 stitches per round, with increases. I lost interest, even though it looks great according to the pattern. I still have that yarn today.   

When you write patterns yourself, you have particularly high expectations of a pattern. You assume that every pattern you buy should be as good as your own. But that’s not the case.

I once shelved a sewing pattern—after several attempts to follow it. The photos were all too dark and blurry and simply didn’t show what the text suggested. The text was too brief, and the poor-quality images didn’t help. I couldn’t recommend that pattern.

I also still have a knitting pattern on hold—because everything seemed more like a rough collection of handwritten notes than a pattern. The steps weren’t described precisely, and where things got difficult, there were no tips. Even while reading it, I had no desire from the start to struggle through this pattern. A bad pattern purchase. But you can’t look inside beforehand. That’s why I always find reviews and comments very important. Unfortunately, others before me had already had negative experiences with this pattern—or maybe not. For me, reviews and comments are crucial to my purchasing decision.

Just once, I went against my usual instincts and bought a sewing pattern that no one before me had reviewed or commented on. And I was so pleasantly surprised! Of course, that earned a very good 5-star review ... and thus helped others make their purchasing decision.

Best regards, Ina

Yeah, that’s happened to me too. It’s a knitting pattern for a doll. When I read through it, the instructions sounded very complicated to me. Even though I knit myself and write patterns, I unfortunately lost interest in this one. I can’t say whether I’ll ever work on it. At the time, I was simply drawn to buy it because of how cute the finished product looked.

I’ve had a few of those myself... 
A cardigan—it looked absolutely gorgeous in the photos, but then there was the pattern: handwritten, with lots of photos that had been marked up afterward with a highlighter. For special stitches, there were no descriptions, just photos of every movement being made.... The crochet charts were “drawn,” and not very well at that.  I would have had to order yarn, which isn’t a problem in itself, but with that pattern I’d rather not. 
I’ve also had something knitted 🥴—a sweater. I thought it was really great, but somehow I just didn’t “warm up” to it and unraveled it again. Maybe I was too quick to unravel it again.... Sometimes it takes a few more stitches/rows before it unfolds. The last poncho sweater needed until after washing... Pure new wool usually only blooms after washing.... 

Hi there!

No, thankfully, never. I’ve finished every pattern I’ve bought.

It’s a different story with my own ones, though. Oh my, how many times have I tried to crochet a bird?
But I’m not giving up. Someday I’ll manage to make a little seed-eater. Hihi 

I’d rather write a pattern myself than buy one, because I can’t really make much of the ones I buy—especially with some sewing patterns, it often feels to me as if they were written backward in Swahili.
What really bothers me about patterns—whether bought or free—is that I get the feeling the authors expect you to read their minds, and that’s just not possible, no matter how hard you try.
And let’s be honest—even with knitting patterns, I usually just read how many stitches to cast on, what needle size to use, and how much yarn I need; I rarely do more than that :-) Then I look at the pattern diagram and get started. I only check the instructions again for the collar, if there is one.

Best regards, Inge