Sometimes when something is fighting me, I just put it away. I tell myself that I'm just not supposed to be doing this right now. Usually when I give it a rest, it becomes obvious what I was doing wrong.

Crocheting a table cloth sounds like a huge project!

I started a new sweater on Christmas Eve. Got to row 2, and put it aside. WOZER, what a complicated pattern.

I may just start over with some "trash yarn", just to see how it evolves before using this high dollar cashmere.

I hope, you can find the glitch soon.

Moni

I know what you're going through. Sometimes I just want to rip my hair out and cry because I can't figure out what I might be doing wrong. And sometimes, it will just come to me when I'm trying to get to sleep at night and the next time I pick up my knitting or crocheting, voila! Occasionally, after many attempts, I'll do a bit of research and find errata online for the pattern. Makes me both glad and mad. Glad the problem is solved and mad that I wasted so much time when the problem was the pattern, not me.

Good point, Donna. It's surprising that patterns have errors, outrageous really!

Best thing to do is put it down, pick it up later when you are calm and fresh, maybe even the next day. Take a deep breath and know you can fix it. It just takes time, and either way you are crocheting, right? It will be worth it in the end. Don't work at night or when light isn't good.

Well, older son made homemade spiked egg nog for all of us a few nights ago, and it was so good that DH and I had seconds, or thirds. Then crocheting and sipping while chatting and watching a holiday themed movie was a totally bad combination. However, even before the egg nog I had spent days stitching 3 rows and taking out 2. Last night I finally gave up when I could not find the mistake and ripped out a few rows and now seem to be going along fine. But this will not be the last of the mistakes. I should have a fourth of the cloth done with all the stitching I have done. But with all the ripping out, I am just at row 20 and rows are 582 stitches long.

582 stitches??!! Wow.

I printed out a pattern for an afghan. Decades ago, I made this same pattern as 2 seat covers for my new car. I learned by watching though, I've never read a pattern. The directions don't make sense to me, but I'm hoping I'll pick it up as I go along from memory. It starts out with 284 stitches. I'm nervous about starting it.

You can follow a pattern written out in the abbreviated language used in patterns, or you can follow a chart, which is what I am using for this tablecloth. Each square of the chart is marked so that you know what stitches to use in that little square.