The other day, I bought a first-rate crochet pattern from Etsy seller Jessica Polka. Here you see my attempt at the delightfully named Gentleman Prawn pattern.
I reviewed Polka's work just a couple of weeks ago, and referred to her site, Wunderkammer, where you can view her beautiful sea creatures. I so love her work that I was tempted to buy all the patterns right away, but decided I'd better try one and see if I could do it.
This is an extremely well-written pattern. Rather than employing confusing abbreviations or symbols, Polka has written out the instructions in clear, concise English. There is no ambiguity about what to do. Each line includes a tally of the number of stitches that should appear in that row, which is very helpful. And, in case you do have any difficulty, Polka is glad to answer questions via email. I was amazed at how quickly I received the pattern: ten minutes after ordering -- and just five minutes after paying -- the pattern arrived in pdf format, along with a friendly message reiterating the offer of help.
My version of the prawn doesn't quite measure up to Polka's original, but I'm fairly pleased with it anyway, considering that I've never made anything quite like this before. I made a few minor changes to the pattern, but it's not at all necessary to do so. I used pink Lily Sugar 'n' Cream cotton and a 4.5 mm hook.
I'll be ordering more patterns from Jessica Polka very soon.
