Free Pattern: Sailor Seagull

My nephew turned one a couple of months ago, and I wanted to make him a fun little toy for his birthday. I had some little bird chirping noise toy inserts  and we saw this cute little top at The White Company-

I thought it would be cute to make a little toy inspired by the seagull on the jumper, a little bit like the doll and dress I made for my niece a couple of years ago. I knew a one year old wouldn't appreciate how they match, but his parents would!

You can hear the bird sound maker on a little video I put on my instagram account (do follow me there if you'd like to see what I'm currently working on). It makes a squeaky, whistling sound - a nice change from a rattle.

After making a duck for the little yellow duck project last week, I thought it would be a good idea to test the pattern and make another duck at the same time, especially as a girl found my duck and was pleased with it. I did a plain 'jumper' style for the duck instead of stripes.

Since the duck isn't a sailor and it's been lovely and sunny here these past few days, I changed up the hat a little to make it more like a sun hat. I made the seagull with a 4mm hook and acrylic yarn, and the duck with cotton yarn and a 5mm hook.

Pattern:
(Instructions for the duck are in brackets where they differ from the seagull.)

You will need:

• 4mm hook (or 5mm if you prefer a larger toy)
• Aran/worsted weight yarn in grey, white, red, yellow, and light and dark blue. I used a mixture of Sirdar Supersoft Aran, and Caron Simply Soft worsted - Red Heart Super Saver would work well too. (For the duck I used Rico Creative Cotton aran in pink, yellow and orange. Lily Sugar'n cream would be another good choice.)
• tapestry needle
• stitch marker
• safety eyes / black yarn of any weight
• toy stuffing for head/body and hat
• optional rattle/bird noise maker

Stitches used: ch, sl st, sc, hdc, fphdc,  dc, magic ring, invdec (invisible decrease - put hook through front loops of next two sts, yarn over, pull through two loops, yo, pull through two loops), inc = 2sc in one st. US terms are used throughout; if you prefer UK ones please use this conversion chart.

Unless otherwise noted, the pattern is worked in spirals throughout. Do not join at the end of a round, but use the stitch marker to keep track of the beginning of the round that you're on. 

Head/Body

In grey (yellow)

Round 1: 6 scs into magic ring
Round 2: Inc in each st around (12)
Round 3: (Inc, sc) six times (18)
Round 4: Sc, (inc, sc in next 2 sts) 5 times, inc, sc (24)
Round 5: (Inc, sc in next 3 sts) 6 times (30)
Round 6: (Sc in 9 sts, inc in next st) three times (33)
Rounds 7-12: Sc in each st around (33)
Round 13: (Sc in 9 sts, invdec) three times (30)

At this point I sewed on the eyes, and made the beak and sewed it on too. You could sew eyes and the beak on after but definitely use safety eyes now if you're going to.

Round 14: (Invdec, sc in next 3 sts) 6 times (24)
Round 15: Sc, (invdec, sc in next 2 sts) five times, invdec, sc (18)
Round 16: (Invdec sc) six times (12)

Stuff head, Change colour to white.

Note that for the body, you may need to change where in a round you switch colour to ensure the changes are at the back of the toy. Rounds should begin and end in marked stitch as usual.

Rounds 17, 18: Sc in each st around (12)
Change colour to red
Round 19: (Inc, sc) six times (18) (Change colour to pink for duck)
Round 20: Sc, (inc, sc in next 2 sts) 5 times, inc, sc (24)
Round 21: (Inc, 7 scs) three times (27)
Change colour to white
Rounds 22-24: Sc in each st around (27)
Change colour to red
Rounds 25-27: Sc in each st around (27)
Change colour to white (yellow for duck)
Rounds 28, 29: Sc in each st around (27)
Round 30: Invdec, 7sc (24)
Change colour to grey
Round 31: Sc (invdec, sc in next 2 sts) five times, invdec, sc (18)
Stuff body, and put in rattle or noise maker if desired
Round 32: Invdec, sc all around (12)
Stuff body a little more
Round 33: Invdec in each pair of sts all around (6) bind off and sew shut. Sew end back through body and trim off excess to hide.

Beak
In yellow (orange)
Round 1: 4 scs into ring
Round 2: (Inc, sc) twice (6)
Round 3: (2sc, inc) twice (8)
Round 4: Sc in each stitch around
Round 5: (Inc, 3scs) twice. Sl St into next St and bind off, leaving tail to sew to head. (10)

Tail
In yellow (orange)
Round 1: Work 4hdc into magic ring. Pull tight but do not join. Make sure you have enough of a tail to sew to body.
Round 2: Ch1, turn, 2 hdcs in first st, hdc in next 2 sts, 2 hdcs in last st
Round 3: Ch1, turn, 2 hdcs in first st, hdc in next 4 sts, 2 hdcs in last st. Bind off, weave in end.


Feet - make 2
In yellow (orange)
Round 1: 7 hdcs into magic ring. Pull tight but do not join. Make sure you have enough of a tail to sew to body.
Round 2: Ch1, turn, (hdc, fphdc) three times, hdc, bind off, weave in end.

Wings - make 2
In white (yellow)
Ch7, Sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc, 2hdc, dc, dc6 into last ch.
Working down the other side of the initial chs: Dc, 2hdc, 2sc, sl St into 1st chain, bind off, leaving tail to sew to body (you'll need to weave the tail back through the wing first).

Hat - Sailor
In dark blue
Round 1: 6sc into ring
Round 2: Inc in each st around (12)
Round 3: (Inc, sc) six times (18)
Rounds 5, 6, 7: sc in each st around. Bind off.
Attach light blue yarn, turn
Round 8: In back loops, (inc, 2sc) all around (24)
Round 9: (Sl St, sc, hdc twice, dc, four times, hdc, twice, sc, sl st) (x2) (24)
Bind off, leaving tail to sew to head.

Hat - Sun hat
(In pink)
Rounds 1-7: as above but don't bind off or change yarn. Turn.
Round 8: As above, sl st into first st of round
Round 9: Ch 1, (hdc in 5 sts, 2 hdc in next st) four times. Bind off, leaving tail to sew to head.

Scarf
In red (pink)
Row 1: Ch 31
Row 2: Sl st in 2nd ch from hook, and next 13 chs. Sl st through both next ch and post of st at the back of where the head and body join twice to attach the scarf at the back. (See image below - you can skip this if you'd prefer to just sew the scarf). Sl st into remaining sts & bind off.

Style the scarf as you like and sew in place with ends of yarn.

Assembly

Stuff hat and sew hat to head. I put most of the stuffing in before sewing the hat but I stuffed it a little more before sewing it closed. Positioning is up to you, but I think it looks cute slightly off to one side.

Sew wings to body with the round side at the top. You can sew all the way round or just at the top and leave the rest of the wing loose.

Sew feet next to each other to the base of the body.

Sew tail to the back of the body at the bottom. Weave in any ends that are left, and enjoy your little bird!

What I made: Little Yellow Duck

This evening I made a little yellow duck, to support the Little Yellow Duck project. Two years ago, Emma Harris, creator of the project lost a friend, Clare Cruickshank, to Cystic Fibrosis. She might have been saved had she had an organ donor. The idea is that you make a yellow duck, tag it, and leave it somewhere for a stranger to find who will hopefully visit the site, log it and read some information on organ, blood or stem cell donation.


I made the duck from Lisa Van Klaveren's Just Ducky Lovey, one of the patterns suggested by the project. It was pretty quick to make - each part only has a few rounds - and it was very straight forward too. I named the duck Darcy, because I don't know if Darcy is a boy or a girl duck. (Or neither. Though I don't think this Darcy would do all that well in a lake!)

Should I make one too? Yes, although you don't need to make the one I made. The project has a pattern page with knitting, crochet and sewing patterns. Take a look and see what you like. I will be leaving my duck somewhere on Wednesday, the first anniversary of the project, but ducks for the project are welcome all year round.

What I baked: Gluten-free, Vegan, Coconut Sugar Cake

I love baking, but I have a lot of friends who can't have regular cakes for whatever reason. I thought it would be a good idea to blog my attempts at gluten, egg and/or dairy free baking so I can remember what worked and what didn't, and maybe help someone else out.

My friend Emily and I thought it would be nice to bake a Simnel cake for our flute group practice this week. She can't have gluten, dairy, or (in my view) worst of all, chocolate, and another girl in the group is vegan and is currently not allowed to have sugar except coconut sugar.

This was a challenge! I checked with our sugar-free friend and she wasn't even allowed to have dried fruit. So a regular Simnel cake was out, and we thought we would bake a spice cake instead.

I got coconut sugar online, though it's the sort of thing you can get at health food shops. It tastes like dark brown sugar, almost like treacle. My husband thinks he can taste a hint of coconut in it but I can't really.


I searched for recipes and found this one for Chai Spice Cake with Vanilla Bean Buttercream from Veggie and the Beast. I liked that it called for raw sugar, because I thought the coconut sugar wouldn't be so different.

We only made the cake, not the icing. We had to make a few substitutions:

• Regular almond milk for vanilla (because the vanilla kind has sugar), 
• 3 cups less 6 tbsps Dove Farms Gluten Free Plain flour, 6 tbsps cornflour and 1 1/2 tsps xanthan gum all sieved together a couple of times for the cake flour (you can't get normal cake flour in the UK, but 1 cup plain flour less 2 tbsps with 2 tbsps cornflour is the substitution I would normally use)
• coconut sugar for raw sugar
• vegetable oil for canola oil (another ingredient you can't get in the UK)

Emily and I followed the directions as written. I make American recipes I find on the Internet quite frequently so I have a set of cup measures. I can't express how much easier it is to use them than to convert a recipe into weights. They aren't expensive and you can get them online or in shops like John Lewis.

I was able to powder the sugar to an extent in the food processor, but not all that well. I also had to hand grind some cardamom seeds, which turned out to be much harder work than I anticipated! I baked the cakes in my oven 175°C (350°F) for about 30 mins, but I swapped shelves half way round so that both cakes had the chance to cook the same.

I confess I was a little nonplussed about how they came out initially! The surface cooked before the mixture had a chance to spread out, so they were all lumpy. I sent this picture to my friend Myshelle who runs Mamma that Makes and she suggested cutting round a plate placed over the cake to make it more circular when they were cool.

Cutting round a plate worked really well - it's the sort of thing I wish I'd thought of by myself. The cakes were still uneven but they were much better. I debated cutting the tops flat too but decided I'd rather have a bigger cake - my flute group friends would forgive me for it not looking perfect!

I tried a second time to powder the coconut sugar in the foodprocessor, thinking that it might work better with less sugar. It didn't! But the blender on the other hand was a different story- it powdered perfectly in about 20 seconds, though I gave it a second 20 seconds just to be sure.

I made a water icing filling for the cake, mixing water into the powdered coconut sugar until it was a thick paste. I put a tiny bit of vanilla essence in but I don't think it was really needed - the sugar's flavour was enough. I topped it with thinner water icing, and balls of marzipan to make it a little like a Simnel cake (the marzipan had sugar in but was easy to remove from one piece).

I think it looked all right in the end (though it took a little effort to get the marzipan to stay in place as you can probably tell!). But more importantly, flute group enjoyed it. It was very spicy and flavourful, and the texture was really nice too. I think that cake flour recipes may work well for being made gluten free because gf flour can be a little gritty, but some of that would be replaced by cornflour.

One friend said she wouldn't have known it was vegan or gluten free if I hadn't said, and my vegan friend was really happy, because she hadn't been able to have cake in six weeks since she's been not allowed sugar.

Leftovers!

Should I make one too? I think this is a great recipe, so yes! If I make it again, I think I would use a little more tea as Emily says gluten free flour tends to absorb water more, and I would bake it for a bit longer at a lower temperature to allow the mixture time to spread out. But over all it tasted pretty good! I would definitely use coconut sugar again, too, although only in a recipe where it's flavour would complement the other ingredients. I think it would be good in apple muffins for example, and other things that would be spicy. And next time I think I'll try making coconut sugar buttercream.

Free Pattern: Sunshine Flower Coasters

I love spring. I love the daffodils on the grass on my street, I love the cherry blossom beginning to bloom, and I really love the light evenings so I can crochet in daylight - occasionally in sunshine!

Two years ago I made these coasters for Mothering Sunday for my mother in law and my grandmother in law. I wrote down the pattern, but then lost it D: Happily it turned up again a couple of weeks ago!

Made with Rico Creative Cotton Aran

I had inherited a set of wooden coasters that came in a holder, and I thought it would make an extra special gift to make a set of crochet coasters with a holder too. These are very simple to make and work up very quickly, perfect for a Mother's Day gift, especially if you've left it a little late.

Made with Lily Sugar'n Cream

The coasters are10cm/4in across when made in Sugar'n Cream, and 9cm/3.5in across when made with Rico Creative Cotton Aran, using 3.5mm hook. The holder is 12cm/4.5in in diameter, and 2.5cm/1in tall.

Pattern

You will need:

• 2 or 3 colours of  worsted/aran weight cotton yarn, for example Lily's Sugar'n Cream, or Rico Creative Cotton. For one flower you will need about 15 yards of one yarn + scraps of a contrasting colour. For a full set you'll need around 140 yards of yarn in total.
• 3.5mm hook
• tapestry needle
• Iron, tea cloth, water spray for blocking

Stitches used: ch, sl st, sc, hdc, dc, trc (triple crochet), magic ring. US terms are used throughout; if you prefer UK ones please use this conversion chart.

Flower

Round 1: Dc 10 times into magic ring. Pull tight and sl st through first dc to join.

(Optional - bind off and change colour)

Round 2: Ch2 (does not count as st - make 1st dc into same space as ch 2 throughout), 2dc in each dc around. Join to first dc. (20 sts)

Round 3: Do not ch; treat the st you did sl st into on previous round as first st. * skip next st, (dc, 3trc, dc,) in one st, skip 1 st, sl st* 5 times. Sl st into 1st st. (five petals formed)

Round 4: Ch1 *hdc, 2dcs in next 3 sts, hdc, sl st* 5 times & fasten off.

Round 5: With contrasting colour, join in back loop of hdc on previous row. Starting in hdc, * 2sc in each of 8 sts around petal,  sl st down to st in round 2 below sl st on round 3* five times. Sl st into where you joined the yarn, bind off, weave in ends.

Unblocked the coaster isn't flat

Blocking: When you finish, the flowers petals will curl up slightly. Steam blocking will fix this, and only takes a minute per coaster. Lay one coaster upside down on an ironing board, and cover with a clean tea towel. Spray water over the towel, then iron briefly to flatten the coaster. If you have a steam iron you can use that instead of spraying water, and if you don't have a water spray, just dampen the tea towel first.

Holder

Round 1: Dc 12 times into magic ring. Pull tight and sl st through first dc to join.

Round 2: Ch2 (does not count as st - make 1st dc into same space as ch 2 throughout), 2dc in each dc around. Join to first dc. (24 sts)

Round 3: Ch2, (2dc in 1st st, dc in next st) 12 times. Join. (36 sts)

Round 4: Ch2, dc (2dc in next st, dc in next 2 sts) 11 times, 2dc in next st, dc, Join (48 sts)

Round 5: Ch2, (2dc in 1st st, dc in next 3 sts) 12 times. Join. (60 sts)

Round 6: Ch2, In back loops only, dc in each st around. Join, & bind off. (60 sts)

Round 7: Attach contrasting yarn. 30 hdc, ch 25, sl st in 1st ch, 30hdc, join to first hdc with sl st, chain 16, sl st in fourth ch from hook, bind off.

Butterfly: With first colour, attach to ch4 loop. Ch2, dc, ch2, dc, sl st into loop, (ch1, hdc 2, ch1, sl st into loop) twice, ch2, dc, ch2, dc, ch2, sl st into loop, bind off, weave in ends.

Put the coasters in the holder, and hook the butterfly through the loop to fasten it.

You may also like to try my Lacy Coasters pattern ♥

Free Pattern: Siobhan the Sheep Bowl

I promised another sheep related post after the cupcakes! A good friend of mine from University moved to Manchester last year, and I thought I should make her a house-warming gift to say welcome to the city. It wound up being very late since she moved here last summer! Her husband is Chinese, so when we were invited to celebrate the Chinese New Year with them, I thought a Sheep Bowl would be a perfect gift - fun and useful, and a nod to the time of year. She named her sheep bowl Siobhan, so that's the name of this pattern. Also I have the Shaun the Sheep theme on my brain now.

Since I decided to make a gift at the last minute, I wanted something which would be quick to do. I would have loved to make another Willow throw but I only decided on a Thursday and I needed it ready that Saturday evening. Hoooked Zpaghetti seemed to be the perfect yarn for this project - it works up extremely quickly although it can be hard work, and it's hard wearing - you can even make rugs from it.

Gauge is not important for this project, and it does actually work in lighter weight yarn and corresponding hook, though you will wind up with a very small bowl. I tried made the bowl part in worsted weight with a 3.5mm hook, and it's just about big enough for a few usb sticks for my desk at work. 

Pattern 

You will need: 

• 35-45yards white hoooked zpagetti/t shirt yarn, (a little under a third of a 120m ball)
• small amount dark grey/black zpagetti/t shirt yarn.* 
• 9mm & 10mm crochet hooks
• big tapestry/darning needle
• stitch marker
• Toy stuffing & pair of tights / scraps of fabric for stuffing

*It's possible to make your own t shirt yarn - have a look at this tutorial if you'd like to know how. You could also use super bulky 'normal' yarn or a few strands held together.

Stitches used: ch, sl st, sc, hdc, dc, trc (triple crochet), invdec (invisible decrease - put hook through front loops of next two sts, yarn over, pull through two loops, yo, pull through two loops), hdc dec (hdc decrease - yarn over, draw up loop through st, yo, draw up loop through next st, yo and pull through all five loops on hook), magic ring.
US terms are used throughout, if you prefer UK ones please use this conversion chart.

Bowl/Body

The base of the body is an oval worked in rounds. The sides of the body are worked in a continuous spiral. The initial chain is done with a smaller hook to minimise holes in the base of the bowl.

Foundation: With 9mm hook ch6. 

Change to 10mm hook

Round 1: Sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next 3 chs. 3 sc in last ch (crochet over the tail as you do these three sts and the rest of the first round.)

Working down the other side of the foundation chain, sc in next 3 chs, 2 scs in the last ch. Join with sl st into first sc. (12sc in total).

Round 2: Ch1, 2sc in same st, sc in next 3 sts, 2sc in next 3 sts, sc in next 3 sts, 2sc in next 2sts. Join with sl st into first sc. (18sc)

Round 3: Ch1, 2sc in same st, sc in next 4 sts, (2 sc into next st, sc into next st) three times, sc in next 3 sts, (2 sc into next st, sc into next st) twice. Join with sl st into first sc. (24sc)

Round 4: Ch1, 2sc in same st, sc in next 5 sts, (2 sc into next st, sc into next 2 sts) 3 times, sc in next 3 sts, (2 sc into next St, sc into next two Sts). Join with sl st into first sc. (30sc)

Round 5: Ch1, 2sc in same st, sc in next 6 sts, (2 sc into next st, sc into next three sts) 3 times, sc in next 3 sts, (2sc into next st, sc into next three sts. Join with sl st into first sc.(36sc)

The base should look something like this (but bear in mind I crochet left handed!):

Round 6: Ch1. In back loops only, (2 hdc into st, hdc in next 11 sts) three times (39hdc)

Do not join.

Round 7: In both loops, hdc into first hdc of previous round & place marker into st just made, 5 hdc, (2hdc into next st, hdc in next 12 sts) twice, 2hdc into next st, 6 hdcs (42hdc)

Round 8: (2hdc into st, hdc in next 13 sts) three times (45hdc)

Rounds 9,10: hdc in each st around. Keep moving marker up a row to keep track of where rows begin and end. (45hdc)

Round 11: (hdc dec, 13 hdcs) three times. (42hdc)

Round 12: 6hdc, (hdc dec, 12hdcs) twice, hdc dec, 6hdc. Join with sl st into first hdc of round. (39hdc)

Round 13: Sl st in each St around. Bind off and weave in ends.

Head
Use 9mm hook to make this tight, if you can - it's hard work! The head is worked in spirals - don't join at the end of each round, but use a stitch marker to keep track of the first stitch in each round.

Round 1: 6sc in magic ring.

Round 2: 2sc into each st around.

Round 3: (2sc into st, sc into next 3 sts) three times.

Round 4: (2sc into st, sc into next 4 sts) three times.

Round 5: (2sc into st, sc into next 5 sts) three times.

Round 6: Sc in each st around.

Round 7: (Invdec, sc into next 5 sts) three times. Bind off, leaving a long tail to sew it to the body. 

just before binding off

Eyes

Sew the eyes onto the head with white yarn.
Here is how I did it, but feel free to use a different method.
1: Draw your yarn through a gap in the head with your needle.

2: Create a knot.

3. Pull knot tight

4: knot loose end underneath the knot.

5. Pull tight and draw yarn back through the same hole.

6. Secure the ends into the head on the inside to anchor the eye securely (so it can't be pulled through), and trim excess yarn.

7. All done!

yes that is one of my cats in the background.

Ears (make 2)

Using 9mm hook:

Make magic ring

Round 1: Ch 3, tc 6 times into ring. Pull ring tight and bind off, leaving a tail to sew the ear onto the head. Sew in other end.

Tail

Using 9mm hook, working in spirals:
Round 1: 6sc into magic ring 

Round 2: 2sc in each st around

Round 3: Sc in each st around

Round 4: invdec in each st around & bind off, leaving a tail to sew to the body.

Assembly

First stuff the head. I cut off the foot from a cheap pair of black tights, and stuffed regular toy stuffing into it. Then I tied a little knot in the end and stuffed it into the head. This way the tights show up in the gaps between stitches, which looks better, and the stuffing can't come out. You could also use scraps of fabric to stuff the head.

The stuffed head.

Then sew the ears to the top edge of the head.

Stuff the tail with a few scraps of tights/fabric. It doesn't need much.

Finally sew the head and ears to the top of one side of the body, and the tail to the bottom of the other. (See the picture at the top of the post). Weave in ends and then you're done! Your Siobhan is ready to hold your trinkets :)

What I baked: Sheep Cupcakes

Two weeks ago, my next door neighbour asked me if I could make sheep cupcakes for their church. I had never thought about sheep as a thing you could have in cupcake form before, but why not? I find it hard to resist a challenge!

Of course my first port of call for something like this is Pinterest. I really had no idea what a sheep cupcake could possibly look like, but looking at the pictures, I was happy to see that there were a lot of options that looked do-able. I enjoy piping buttercream, but I know I wouldn't be able to do it in a wool-like manner, so mini-marshmallows seemed to be the better option.

I didn't take any photographs while I made these so it isn't going to be a tutorial, but I made the eyes first, by making small balls of white fondant icing and even smaller balls of black and sticking them together with a little water. Then I made blobs for black fondant for the sheep faces, squeezing one side a little flatter and then sticking the eyes in, sticking with water again. I made the ears by rolling out a sausage of black fondant icing.

The cupcakes are coffee flavour (following the linked recipe but without the espresso syrup), with white chocolate buttercream, as requested by my neighbour. I spooned the buttercream on to the cake, pressed in a sheep face, then stuck in mini marshmallows in the rest of the buttercream.

 I'm so pleased about how they came out because I'm really not good at making things like this with my fingers - fimo clay is largely wasted on me. But although they look a bit crazy and did take me a long time to do (the sheep faces took about three hours but I was watching Supernatural on TV at the same time!), they were well worth it.

Should I make some too? I'm sure like me you've seen a lot of Pinterest fails, but this definitely qualifies as a Pinterest win. These would be great for a farm theme party or for an Easter or spring lamb theme. Also they tasted pretty good, even if I do say so myself!

Look out for a sheep related crochet pattern coming up on my blog soon...

How I pick out patterns

So far, nearly all the items I've blogged about making have been successful, and I would recommend you try those specific patterns if you're interested in making similar things. However, I don't want you to think when reading my blog that I'm just saying nice things so that everyone likes me. I thought I could counter this by sharing a few fails, but, other than projects that are hibernating because I got bored of them or needed to do something else more urgently, I don't actually have all that many full on fails, and for those that didn't work out as well as I hoped, the pattern isn't usually to blame.

Instead I thought I'd share my process on picking a pattern and how I try to avoid fails as early on in the process as possible.

I find almost all the patterns I use on Ravelry. I have two major processes for starting projects - either I want to give someone a specific thing, or I have some nice yarn and want to find something to make to show it off.

I have two main principles for picking patterns - find something that's well written, and find something that works for me.

Finding something well-written

Pictured above is something that could have been a fail - the spiral baby blanket I made for my youngest niece when she was born. The middle of this blanket was really difficult to do and I don't think I ever really got it right, but I got it working well enough that I could continue to make the rest of the blanket. My niece is two and a half now, and I'm a more experienced crocheter. I would still say this pattern is worth trying if you're a little more experienced, because the tricky bit is right at the beginning, so you can frog and do something else without losing a lot of work, and the finished object got a lot of compliments and is still in use albeit as a throw as my niece has grown out of it.

I could have avoided the angst if I wanted though - other people had made this project and also had problems getting started. There are many projects for it on Ravelry, and several of them have described their difficulties. I knew what I was getting into, to an extent. 

When I pick patterns I pay attention to:

• Photos, their quality and number - do you have pictures of the back? of all sides? if the designer hasn't posted any, there may be some in the projects. They don't have to be super artistic, just clearly showing what the finished project should look like.
• Projects and comments - have other people made this? Are their results good? For example, if I wanted to make a circular blanket, I would avoid one that no one had been able to get flat (if they're using the hook/yarn weight combo recommended). If no one else's project looks good, the chances are mine wouldn't either.
• Reputation - if there's a new pattern you'd like to try, and especially if it's one you'd have to pay for, has the author published other patterns that people have liked? If they have then it's worth taking the risk.

If someone's charging $5 for a pattern for which they've provided one small photo and no one else has made it, I'm not going to be the first. But if there are several pictures by the artist, showing the pattern in different yarns, I'm happy to take the risk.

Finding what works for me

The classic baby blanket was my real fail, but that wasn't the pattern's fault, it was all mine. The pattern calls for worsted weight yarn. I would have liked to use wool, but the daughter of the person I made it for is allergic, so I thought it was likely her new baby may be allergic too. I didn't want to use acrylic, and the pattern recommends cotton, but I couldn't easily get an appropriate cotton worsted at the time so I used double knitting weight instead. I used a smaller hook to make up for it but not small enough, and the dk I wound up using was bamboo cotton and was on the light side of dk.

My first struggle was getting an appropriate tension on my beginning chain - using the same size hook as for the rest of the body left it much too tight. After I thought I fixed that, I carried on crocheting and got a long way on the blanket, only to find that it was no longer rectangular - it had gradually got wider despite my best efforts.

Finally, wet-blocking it made the rib texture completely fall out. It was lovely and drape-y because of the bamboo in the yarn, but it wasn't remotely how I had pictured it from the pattern. Because it was cotton/bamboo, I wasn't even able to block it to be properly rectangular, as you can tell from the picture above - the edges were as even as I could make them, but not all that even.

Happily, the person I made it for, not having preconceived notions of what it should have looked like, was very happy with it, and she was very appreciative of the time and care I had put into making something for her, regardless of the outcome. And I learned a lot from it too. For example I learned that I find making blankets in that style stressful, and I'd rather make granny squares or circular blankets, because the errors tend to get distributed more evenly and the final results are better.

When picking patterns I try to:

• Look for patterns that suit my style. I enjoy things that don't require a lot of counting or loads of concentration, because I like to crochet in front of the tv and I find counting stressful. I also find sewing lots of pieces together in amigurumi stressful too. Your style may be different, and it's always worth trying new things, but I can look at some patterns and say, no, that's not for me.
• Have examples similar to what I'd like to do. I went wrong on the classic baby blanket because I used the wrong hook/yarn weight combo. I should have looked more carefully at what other people were doing, and thought more carefully about how the characteristics of the yarn I chose would work with the pattern. Looking through other people's projects is a great way of finding combinations that work well, and things to avoid.
• Not be afraid to change things. If a pattern starts with a huge number of chains and then a plain row of dcs, for example, I switch out for a foundation dc row. Or if it says make 6 sts into the second chain, I will substitute a magic ring. I prefer both of those techniques, and in most cases it won't make a difference to the finished item.

Know when to quit
It's good to give a tough pattern a chance, but it's important to know when something is proving to be more trouble than it's worth. It may be you, it may be the pattern, but time is limited and there's no point wasting it if you hate what you're doing.

For example, the first time I tried the flowering clematis scarf, I used really pretty Noro yarn (silk garden I think) that just didn't work for me with the pattern, and I thought it looked horrible. Rather than finish I frogged it and tried again with a much more appropriate yarn.

Share your results
If you make something and it works out well, or if you make something and it doesn't work out but you know why, share. Blog it, make a project on Ravelry - you'll be helping the next person who comes along. Plus it's always nice to have a little show-off from time to time!