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Results of yesterday’s tutorial… « »
Well. Yesterday’s post was the result of several emails that I’ve received from one reader. She was having trouble with the collar of the coat. So, I thought that it would be helpful to work through the coat with pictures and text as a guide for her and possibly for others who may be finding it difficult.
This morning I received an email from her. I’ll just post it here so that you can see…(directly posted from email, omitting her name):
i just wanted to write one last time. i have ripped this out and started over about 5 times now. i realize after reading your blog and seeing that other people were saying that they thought your pattern was “screwed up”. I personally never said that and all along i was thinking it was me. but now i see clearly the problem here. you need to admit to yourself that the pattern is unclear. when you gave your instructions on the blog i don’t think you went through all the steps and you don’t say exactly what is supposed to be done the whole way through the problem area and i can attest to that because now i have ripped out again after your instruction. i believe you are leaving out a big step and it might be at the point where you say to do it four times. do what four times. i really don’t know what the problem is exactly because i haven’t gotten it right yet. i guess it would be interesting to know if your explanation has helped people. i am sick of ripping this out and what started out as a cool fun project is turning out to be a nightmare for me. one more try for me and then i’m gonna make a straight collar and forget the short row shaping. a little background on me is i have been knitting now for about 10 years. i know how to follow instructions.
My response:
[Reader],
I spent hours writing that blog post, taking photos, and trying to go step by step through the instructions.
I’m sorry that it didn’t meet your standards. I’m afraid there’s nothing more that I am able to so on this for you.
Have a great day!
Stefanie.
Fortunately, I also received a lovely Ravelry note about the same sweater:
Stephanie,
I finished the tweed coat this week. I LOVE it! I think the confusion on the collar is that until you finish the second increase row the pattern is off by 1 stitch. But when you do the second increase row in that set–everything gets back on track.
I will post a picture this weekend but I wore it to my knitting group today and everyone loved it. Thanks for a great pattern. Yvonne
And I also see on ravelry 
that several people have already finished the sweater and have smiley faces to indicate that they’re pleased with the result.
So, while I didn’t do much for the first reader’s zen quotient, I hope that I did help clarify things for a few people! Thanks for reading, and I really do hope that you all have a great day!
This entry was posted on Saturday, February 28th, 2009 at 9:58 am and is filed under Book Talk, tips and tricks, Q&A, Bring Back the Zen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
11 Responses to “Results of yesterday’s tutorial…”
Oh ugh. You went way above and beyond in your tutorial yesterday. I’m sorry you had to wake up to yet another complaint.
Your patterns are gorgeous and exceptionally well-written. When one person has to rip and restart so many times, while others have knit it without problem, it’s pretty obvious that the issue is “operator error.”
You rock, Stefanie!
I agree with Earthchick. For a designer to go to the lengths you did is so beyond what most would. They made perfect sense to me. Your time is valuable and I appreciate you making this tutorial.
Thank you both for your comments, it’s awesome to know that the tutorial doesn’t suck after all that!!
The tutorial looked great to me. It is a shame she thinks you need to admit a problem when she obviously can’t admit she is having a mental block with this. I guarantee if she picked this same project up again in the future, it would all suddenly be clear. She should focus on what she wants it to look like rather than trying to blindly follow instructions. Ten years of knitting experience should have taught her that.
I agree—you went above and beyond for this reader, and it makes me sad that she was too frustrated to stop and acknowledge that. You rock!!!
God, some people are so obnoxious. You went beyond the call of duty with the tutorial. I don’t envy the pattern support people expect of you. I think that has to be the biggest PITA of designing because there will always be people who need Extreme Hand Holding. Hang in there!
I think what you are doing is great - and the tutorial was as clear as it could be without the pattern in front of me. I look forward to more tutorials in the future.
Stefanie - you are BY FAR one of the few designers that pays SO much attention to the details of your patterns and you are so on the ball about making sure the corrections are accessible to anyone and everyone. Bah humbug on anyone who says differently! I don’t think some people realize (or appreciate) how much time and effort you take out of your busy schedule to help them when other folks would not even bother to respond!
I for one…
Agree (1,000,000) with Earthchick!
Stef, you have done a dynamite job of documenting the steps on this collar, totally above and beyond! But I think that your frustrated knitter is just lost at the brackets. She’s asking “do what 4 times” when to an experienced knitter it’s whats [inside the brackets] that should be done 4 times. You do great work, keep your chin up sister!
This knitter is really outta line for attacking you like this in her request for help. I bet if she’d taken it to SnB, or had another look at it for like 2 minutes, they would’ve caught her mistake, which is an obvious failure to do [the thing in brackets] four times. What I don’t get is how someone expects you to be helpful when they are rude like that!
Knitting: a minute to learn, a lifetime to master. Ten years is only long enough for a knitter to begin to *think* they know what they are doing.
Like most of the respondents I too am sorry that you had to go through this. But in an effort to look on the bright side (my goal for the year) — that person was so in love with your pattern that she (I’m assuming it’s a woman) was frustrated she couldn’t achieve what should be a beautiful garment from a beautiful pattern. It all boils down to the love of your design!
I hope she can return to the pattern when her frustration subsides and that it will click. I know I’ve been there with plenty of patterns, sometimes it just takes a bit of distancing. I think you handled it great Stefanie.