Difficulty vs. Fussiness

A very dear customer was in the shop the other day, struggling to get these picot-bobble-things to look right on a tunisian crochet afghan she wants to make for a grandchild. We played and played with the directions, and swatched and discussed, and the final verdict on the matter is that the pattern is super fussy. She said, “But I don’t understand – it’s marked as an advanced beginner pattern!” I replied with a “yeah, it’s not that difficult, but it’s fussy.”

This led to a rousing discussion between Emily and me about difficulty vs. fussiness. You see, a pattern can have a low difficulty rating but be super fussy, which doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s hard. Pain-in-the-butt-to-do patterns aren’t always hard-to-do pattern. The components themselves can be fairly easy, straightforward, even, but the putting-together of those components can equal a process that is kinda painful.

So, the verdict for our dear customer? Fuggedabout it! She started another pattern, and walked away much happier and less stressed. The finished object will be in better shape, too, because she will have actually enjoyed the creating, no matter the difficulty level.

Have you had a showdown with a fussy pattern? Do you press on through, or find something a bit more…amenable?