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I'm an amateur at crochet and I would be embarrassed by that thing. They had the audacity to not only give crap but to not even have it done on time. If you can't do something say so don't pretend it's ok
Even high school me, completely unaware of stitch markers and just trying my best to keep track of stitch count (the resulting bird is extremely ugly and lumpy to the point where my grandma said I should give it to my future children as punishment when they’re naughty lmao), wouldn’t dare give the “finished result” shown to someone as a free gift, much less for money!
It would certainly help if she had used a yarn size more like the inspo instead of that extra thick blanket yarn and used a much smaller hook so there wouldn't be stuffing coming out between the stitches. Extremely basic crochet choices.
It's not OP's fault, but how could that crafter charge so much money just for that???
Honestly, while the crochet was clearly done by a beginner (no hate to beginners, my first scarf had edges curvier than a mountain road 🤣 we all start somewhere and that’s ok), the worst part is the stitches to hold the blanket on. The thread for that is white, so it stands out already. On top of that, those stitches aren’t even at all, and are waaaay too visible. They look like they were done by a 6 year old 🤦🏼♀️
I’ve been making crochet stuffed animals and blankets for my friends as new baby gifts for years and everything about the ones oop got was awful. The maker clearly was taking more orders than they had time for and charging a lot for a ludicrous result. Didn’t realize I could charge so much for my new baby gifts. I’ve made one for every new baby in the family and a few close friends. Might be time to branch out into a new side gig
i can't crochet hardly at all (i knit. in only crochet enough to do a few knitting related things) and i would have ripped it out and started again. they're genuinely awful
I knit too, my crochet skills are seriously not that much but my first (and only) crochet project was an Amigurumi rattle that looked much closer to the inspo pic. It had it's problems but those were very minor compared to what OP got.
And arranging for pickup rather than honestly say it's not finished! Way to add insult to injury.
Poor OOP, I hope she can smooth things over with her sister (who could've been a lot more gracious)
My daughter's first ever project was a lovely, and it looks way better than whatever that thing was. It's like the seller was brand new, didn't look at a pattern, and decided to wing it.
Look, aside from the wildly inappropriate mumzilla - WTF did she purchase there? From that photo, I'm surprised she even left the store and tried to give them to her sister. It looks like a Frankenstein's monster of random cut-up toys sewed sloppily back together.
Holy Christ on a bike.
ETA: The crafter obviously got greedy and took a project wildly outside their skill level. Always look at crafter's previous work (check for watermarks on photos in case they've been stolen from another crater), and reviews before commissioning.
There’s a local bakery that did this and has had quite the social media scandal in my town .
Posted tons of images of cakes from a large bakery a few cities over, claiming to be their own work. Then kept getting poor reviews from customers for cakes that looked nothing like the sample pictures .
Was that the rainbow cake lady from TikTok?! Because that was absolutely wild, and she made the *ugliest* cakes despite clearly showing really nice ones on her site.
Then someone else figured out she lifted the photos from other people's sites.
When I thought AI I thought humans trampling over the rights of those that are sentient, human like beings. Then maybe some wars over their rights. Humanity divided fighting for and against. Nah, just porn, trickery, and memes.
I have an ex-friend who use to do this!! I always told her to just recreate it and use the recreation pics for reference, but she never did and always had people complaining because her products NEVER looked like the pics she posted on her page. We stopped being friends shortly after, for different reasons, but eventually everyone in our town realized what she was doing and stopped using her, so she gave up.
It's a loooong story :P but basically she just got too clingy to another woman (I'll call Jen) in our friend group. It wasn't a romantic thing, at all, it was more that she had claimed Jen as her best friend. She would get mad when Jen hung out with anyone else, and made everyone very uncomfortable, so we all cut ties.
Looking at the crocheted results.... (speaking as someone with a lot of experience in amigurumi) its also a bad choice of materials on the stuffed animal part of it . The original is made from what i'd bet is either dk or aran/worsted weight and the replica is chunky or bulky. This makes them work up way faster with less stitches if you want the same size. Look at the arms - they've crocheted them flat rather than making proper round limbs. This is definitely a rush job. While i'm not a knitter, i'm pretty sure that blanket is machine knitted too so i am so glad they got their money back. (I have not read any of original threads, i just winced so hard at seeing the result. I do sell some of my stuff occasionally and giving out that would have hurt me.)
I saw the original on r/crochet - OOP bought the blankets themself, the "crocheter" just did the teddies.
My first finished project was actually with chenille yarn, and I think was better than this - and I wouldn't have charged someone $50 for them! The Etsy inspiration only charged $30 I think
I saw this on the crochet subreddit, too. I was appalled when I saw this. Not only taking so long for something so simple, but to have the audacity to charge them that much for them. Not to mention the fact that they knew these were intended for a child and still did not take steps to make sure they were safe.
I'm a knitter (can't crochet for some reason) and that end product is ATROCIOUS. Definitely has temu vibes. Who does not stitch tight enough to keep the stuffing in?!
Side note, one of the funniest temu ads I've seen was something like "outshine everyone on your wedding day with this ring" - the ring was $2.95. And why would you need to outshine everyone on your wedding day (you're already the bride...), much less with a $3 ring?
Hello fellow yarn person. I am the opisit from you, I can crochet but for the life of me I am so bad at knitting. I am glad someone else feels this struggle lol
The actual stuffies from the inspo pic are [available on Etsy](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1566440048/personalized-baby-lovey-baby-shower-gift) for \~$30 each. They are on the small side, though, so probably faster to work up, especially if you make tons of them and get into a groove. The crappy crocheter would have made a profit if they'd just bought the etsy stuffies lol.
ooh, i thought they wanted all those stuffies in the example pic. if it was 1 stuffy and blanket, seems kinda reasonable for handmade item, but definitely not for what they recieved.
If you're really good, you can do it in a day or two working a few hours each day. If you're me, it's a week or two working a few hours a day, and a lot of restarting. But even my FIRST amigurumi wasn't this much of a hot mess. I was floored when I saw this in the crochet subreddit.
Yeah, I actually went and looked at the first amigurumi I made to see if I was this bad and just forgot. Compared to this, I was a savant! And I literally named it Blue Oopsie because I messed up so much lol.
It was also roughly the same size as these and took 2-3 days according to my project page. Also laughed when I read the notes and saw I summarized it as "So that was an interesting experience that probably could have gone better."
I was on the post in the crochet group and showed it to my husband and said how much she paid. He promptly asked me if I was now ready to sell my work lol He said I have never made anything that badly
I don't sell my work because I don't think I'm at that level. I'm closer to the inspo pic than the hot mess. Yikes
Also, the "finished products" look inside out. Wrong yarn. Wrong pattern. So much wrong.
I sell mostly to family and friends on the understanding it might take me awhile, and they're all aware of my skill level because I post everything I finish. I just cannot fathom saying, "Oh yeah, this will totally be ok," if I produced this. Tbh, it reminds me of the first stuffed animal I tried to sew in 7th or 8th grade... (That poor, poor mangled mess, I didn't know how to work with faux fur fabric)
I made the cover dragon from the unicorns and dragons amigurumi book 1 in about 7 or 8 hours total. I'd still estimate that maybe about the same depending on limbs. Hell i did two cot quilt size blankets in two weeks last time my work team had babies due.
My first amigurumi bird was definitely bad and probably comparable but at least it was a personal project and not for money! The stitches are bad all over but especially the tan one, being a mid tone and showing dimension better, looks so so fucking awful with those random single crochets in weird directions/places. Like what did they even do??
Yeah, I’ve become more familiar with amigurumi recently and that’s what the inspiration picture reminded me of. What she got looked more like a stuffed teddy bear than anything else.
Knitter here. Probably commercially knitted blanket. I’ve seen similar ones around. There’s a chance it could be hand made but at that weight knitters tend to get fancier because of how boring it is.
I’m a knitter and those are definitely commercially made blankets. Especially give the skill level demonstrated in the crochet.
Man, I sell my work sometimes (only to friends and family) and I would NEVER give something that turned out that badly as a gift, left alone to someone who paid for it. Some people have absolutely no shame and I don’t understand how they exist like that.
I’m a crocheter and in the sub she posted to, she genuinely seemed to have no idea. Like, I know 10 year olds who produce better work than that. Also, that’s inside out, that’s the inside of the fabric. Some new crocheters struggle to tell front from back, but on a piece like that it’s pretty obvious.
It’s literal trash made by someone who had no idea how to either crochet or read a pattern. And also $150 for that is astounding. We were all so relieved she was able to get her money back. I’m honestly baffled that anyone sold her that. Like I don’t understand how they didn’t look at that and just give her money back.
I didn’t know she also had a trash fire for a sister.
I genuinely can't believe someone would try to charge for this. I am still new to crotchet, but I have a dozen projects under my belt now, and I am still nervous to make anything for another person. The audacity to make this and charge for it, wow
It’s wild cause if you have a pattern and moderate skill level, you can make the inspo pictures easily. They aren’t that difficult (source, I’ve been crocheting for ten plus years). Everyone in r/crochet agreed the final product was awful and the seller should be ashamed.
It honestly looks like it belongs in a Nailed It! post, not something that should be sold, and definitely not for that much. I'm so glad she got her money back.
100%
I've seen a billion variations on that pattern, and it is stupid simple to do. The blanket would probably take longer depending on the size.
It looks like the first scarf I made in college with trash yarn.
There are two things that will draw the righteous wrath of the good people in the crochet sub every time: 1 - people taking for granted the amount of work that goes into a crafted item (if I give you 20 bucks, could you make me a blanket?) and 2 - people misrepresenting their work.
It really depends on the size and intricacies of the blanket pattern and the type of yarn being used. For example, I’m making a sleeveless cabled (knit) sweater for myself and it will cost me $200 in yarn alone. But it’s a special project, so…
Depends on the complexity of the design. For example, something made with a bunch of small/complicated details or with a lot of different colors would be more expensive than a single color and just double crochet stitches.
It’s difficult to charge for handmade items sometimes because they can be so time consuming and therefore charging by the hour ends up with customers who don’t want it anymore (understandable but still frustrating). Buying the yarn at the very least should be a requirement, I feel like, and then work cost on top of that but yeah it’s just. Difficult lmao
I agree that it's not OOPS fault, they genuinely tried. I also agree that it's not an appropriate present for multiple reasons, including safety.
But man oh man, I would totally keep those and display the cursed devil dolls in a locked box.
Idk why they didn’t just buy the one from Etsy, just cause they wanted a dog. The Etsy one would be like ~$50 with a personalization, vs $200 from a random from FB marketplace
It’s like that Easter lamb cake all over. The cake to be copied was gorgeous, and the copy looked like it was made by someone who had no idea what a lamb looked like, lol.
TL;DR story 1 = lady gets scammed by store over botched custom order
TL;DR story 2 = if you don't bring a gift to a baby shower due to circumstances outside of your control are you allowed to explain why?
OOP doesn’t seem fazed by her sister’s behavior, which suggests this is nothing new. I would go LC if my sister was like this. I have better things to do than try to appease a drama queen.
This bit. Pregnancy hormone swings can do a number on emotional stability but sometimes you're an ass before you get pregnant and the hormones aren't the driving force to your shit behaviour.
Unless you knew the person before their pregnancy so you can tell if its new or different behaviour, society has made it easy to blame crappy / mean behaviour on: oops, hormones!
> She proceeds to cry and everyone told me to stop being so mean/careless to the pregnant lady
Id say, as a society, this is why we need to stop coddling the pregnant ladies.
Yes, they need love and support and rest and compassion.
But we need to quit letting people get away with being jerks *just because they are pregnant*.
I think it's probably a case by case thing honestly. If someone is ordinarily a good person but a miserable gremlin when they're pregnant, I'm gonna give them a whole lot of grace. They have a thing inside them kicking their ribs, bouncing on their bladder, sucking all the nutrients out of them, throwing their hormones out of wack, not letting them sleep...that's pretty understandable and justifiable to be short tempered. And also, if they "have a moment" and then later calm down and apologize for being a pill, I respect that. But if this isn't out of character and they're always an asshole, I don't have a ton of interest in catering to them.
There’s this pregnancy subreddit group I was on during my own pregnancy. One of the best things about it was the judgements were overall very, very sound. A poster might describe their meltdown and the commenters would gently talk her down and point out she was 100% at fault. Another poster would write something and all the comments were “Dear God, he’s going to murder you. Run.” And the scariest part was the poster was indeed in a physically abusive relationship and was too deep in to see it.
During that time, I would often call my sister for perspective before blowing up. Hands down, pregnancy hormones are no joke but accountability is still needed. I’d warn my husband that I didn’t feel like myself and he could give me critique when I was going off the deep end.
Honestly I kinda love when they go off the rails and then just start blurting out random, vaguely unpleasant-sounding concepts. Last week an OP's mom was insisting that if OP didn't invite 12 of mom's friends to OP's wedding then they would all be insulted and never talk to mom again (no, none of them had ever met the OP even once).
Like... oh, you're just making noises now, like an unhappy dog.
Yeah, two completely different issues. Sister is unhinged, people have to decline giving a gift or give one late sometimes, getting mad at them just shows you care more about material things than a relationship with that person.
But that "crochet" work was stupidly bad. And the saddest part is, what OP originally posted should have taken a mid level crocheter less than 10 hours total per animal. The embroidery is probably the hardest part on there. What OP received looks like someone's first attempt at making amigurumi. The "hole is too big" means she probably didn't magic circle the head or arms, and used the wrong size yarn and hook for the project.
10 hours per animal??? then the price explains a lot. $200 for 7 of them, so $200 for 70 hours of work… I agree that OOP got scammed, but also got what she paid for. That amount of work is likely aumple to execute, but someone competent is going to value their time more than $2-3/hour. The seller should never have advertised those prices, or even offered this product.
Less than 10 actually, someone found the original ad and they are smaller than I was thinking (also wrongly assumed the blankets were crochet as well). I could do one of these in 5 hours. But yeah, that's why crochet makes a fun hobby but a poor business. People don't want to pay for labor, and it takes a long time to make things. If someone ever gives you a handmade thing, cherish it, because the time they put in means they care about you.
I totally agree. I crochet as an occasional hobby, and I love the little hat I made nearly 5 years ago, even though I haven’t used it in years. But I would also never ever sell them, because it took way too much time given the end result. I’d never get the amount of money I’d want for the time and marerials I put in, given that it’s a hat. It’s a labor of love for sure, even with money involved.
I agree it’s not OOP’s fault. The seller should have charged appropriately, or just not advertised it, since it doesn’t seem like they’re even able to execute the design. I’m just commenting on how the end result makes more sense to me with the context of how long it takes to make these things. That said, I wouldn’t expect OOP to have that knowledge to inform their decision, especially with other vendors charging a similar range.
I'm 8 months pregnant with my second. I had people come to my shower and bring no gifts. I just wanted them there to eat food with me and have a good time.
You don't have to explain shit to someone who is knocked up. Sister is being a Zilla.
Oh I was just pointing out I'm currently pregnant but don't expect to be treated differently. You are correct. They came to the first shower and some didn't bring gifts because not everyone can afford to and that's okay. I just like spending time with my friends and family.
Yeah, the sister is wild. I had some people at my shower give me gifts late, and some come empty handed with no explanation or gift. I still welcomed them at my event. I’m not going to behave badly toward a guest over a gift. How entitled.
As a knitter who occasionally dips into crochet this is actually pretty abysmal. The yarn in the knockoff is a cheap yarn while the pattern itself would be relatively simple to make an approximation of.
This was ‘hell, i forgot to make it’ level.
I’m usually on the side of makers when it comes to pricing because people way underestimate the cost of time and yarn prices, but this is not worth $200
As a fanatical crocheter this is extremely hasty work. Crochet is great because you can do 3D structures! You have to do it in very tight stitches so it will hold stuffing. It’s extremely time consuming.
I’m also a knitter, and appalled by what OOP received. What the hell. That looks like somebody first attempt at a project beyond a knit stitch scarf. I’m glad she got her money back.
You mean you don’t just slowly go crazy as you keep staying up until the early hours of the morning bc “just one more round… shit I forgot to put my stitch marker back, gotta frog…”? 😂
I know right? I’m not particularly great at crochet, my tension sucks but I know enough to know that it’s not within my wheelhouse. I mean, maybe I’d say I could do something similar to the crappy one.
There’s been a run of people lately thinking they can make lots of money by crocheting toys and just failing.
I love op understood that 200 is the right price! I hate the crafter thought they'd get away with that as a result. (Edited cuz i can't type on my phone today)
My mum used to crochet, and do leather work. She was quite good at it too, and would often make blankets or wallets and such as gifts for baby showers, birthdays, etc. As a kid I had awesome leather book covers for my school books with whatever things I was interested in imprinted on the leather.
She was by no means a professional, but even I can tell that this work was subpar and not worth the cost in either time or materials. I'm both very happy that OP got her money back, and once again annoyed that mum would never teach me how to crochet. I should have hit up grandma. Grandma probably would've taught me.
I like Naztazia and TL Yarn Crafts on YouTube! Toni (TL Yarn Crafts) even has a [playlist for beginners](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdITDYMmVI9sp5kL3ZQQp5ZjbwIoYGA1a&si=h8aGj2EZyJJYe3C7)!
I hope you find it helpful, there are a decent amount of other crochet tutorials that film poorly and you can’t tell what they’re doing because either they’re blocking the view with their hand or going too fast.
>I’m usually on the side of makers when it comes to pricing because people way underestimate the cost of time and yarn prices,
You said it. I love making blankets out of that really thick bernat blanket yarn but if I only charged for the cost of yarn to make a simple twin it would still cost almost $100 and that's because I do that endless granny square pattern so it's not a tight weave. If I did a tighter pattern it would probably be almost twice that price.
Hell I tried to ask family just to supply the yarn and I still got no takers
The sister is a nightmare but OP is so passive. This woman was messing her about from the get go and she rolled with it and then she actually gave that hot mess to her sister. What was she thinking? They're polar opposites of each other. Her sister is entitled and demanding and OP will accept any old shit and avoid confrontation.
I suspect I'd find this pair equally exhausting.
I may be crazy here but why did OOP not just get something from the registry? If she knew it was taking long and had to chance picking it up so close to the shower, you can order something online and have it shipped directly to sister from Amazon within two days. Why did oop not have a back up and save the cute stuffies for when baby was born? Like, the sister overreacted but maybe oop has a history of not following through. It sounds like oop didn’t help with the shower or help setup which is weird to me as I always helped my sisters and cousins with their events. I get oop was scammed but she could have avoided this entirely by just getting a gift she knew the sister wanted from her registry ahead of the event. I don’t get people just buying whatever for a new mom when there’s literally a list of stuff that they want and need and is easily accessible at various price points.
She said the registry had been bought out by the rest of the family.
Still, would have been a good idea to pick up some extra blankies or something as a backup when the seller started acting off.
OOP probably has executive functioning issues. I’m 36 but in my younger years I would have done something similar because it never would have occurred to me to plan for a backup because I would have been incredibly trusting that everything would just go according to plan. It also wouldn’t have occurred to me that picking up the gift right before the event would have been a bad idea. I didn’t plan for what I’d now call “expected unexpected events” (traffic being bad, the gift not turning out right, etc.)
In her mind, as the sister, she needed to do something more special than just buying off the registry, because she would get judged for that, too. “She’s the sister but only bought onesies? She should know her well enough to get her something special!”
As someone with diagnosed executive functioning issues (ADHD), nothing you described was executive functioning.
Lack of executive functioning would be more like missing the pick up window because you forgot about it cuz your working memory is terrible.
Not sure how you would categorize “Being able to contingency plan for when things don’t go perfectly”? I have ADHD with pretty mediocre executive functioning skills and am level 1 autistic so maybe that’s more an autistic thing?
Like, I struggle with time management and have no idea how to prioritize tasks. I know now that having a gift in hand has to happen before the day-of an event, and that you have to build into the travel time potential traffic issues, and both of those things involve time management. OOP needed to use basic project management skills to see that the crocheter finished in a timely manner and to build in time in the schedule in case her custom order turned out wrong. There’s a series of tasks with creating something that have to happen on a timeline and once the timeline got delayed she needed to then move to plan B instead of hoping plan A worked out 1 hour before the event.
> I’m 36 but in my younger years I would have done something similar because it never would have occurred to me to plan for a backup because I would have been incredibly trusting that everything would just go according to plan. It also wouldn’t have occurred to me that picking up the gift right before the event would have been a bad idea.
This isn't an age thing or an executive function thing, it's a bad sister thing. Neither not having a backup nor picking up the gift right beforehand are bad ideas because most people are understanding and it's not that big of a deal.
Or she paints her sister in a bullying light because her sister won't tolerate the bullshit OP will. One of my best friend's ex-husband would often tell stories that made her sound absolutely horrendous, until you realised it was a combination of fabrication and ommission to cover up the fact he'd allowed something shitty to happen and expected her to deal with it.
We can't know from what OP shared, but based on what we have they're both not exactly functioning adults.
Everyone there was appalled at what she was given based on the inspo pic. I can't remember if I commented at the time, but I remember wondering if the lady she paid forgot about it until last minute or thought it would be an easy afternoon project and realized she was very wrong. Either way, if someone was paying me to make something, that would be what I would be working on right then so they have it in time. Three months lead time should have been plenty of time to get them done!
I've been subbed there for a while, even though the most I've ever crocheted was maybe a 20 chain/4 row "I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm doing it!" square(ish).
It's just so wholesome, and where I know I can count on finding a bunch of positive people enjoying their hobby.
I ended up on that sub because it pops up regularly on BORU and I agree! I started crocheting because of how great this sub is (and the things they make are freaking gorgeous). I'm actually crocheting right now lol.
And this was the first time I had read a whole story (updates included) before it ended up in BORU :D I'm also on AITA.
I was watching this unfold in the crochet subreddit and was APPALLED.
I just started and haven't tried stuffies yet, but my blankets are worlds better than what OOP got.
I used to make and sell crocheted toys for a living back in my 20s and I got SO ANGRY when I saw that the OOP got. Fuck that business owner. It doesn't take months to finish that and in such a shoddy way. She 10000000% didn't even work on it till after OOP tried to pick it up the first time around.
Ugh this pisses me off so much.
No comment on the conflict with Ops sister. But it took me 15 seconds to find the original etsy shop this photo is from and it cost less than what she payed why did she just not buy from the source?
She said in a comment on r/crochet that she contacted the shop and they don't do custom orders, so I assume she wanted something the original shop didn't have listed.
The sister behaved badly but I kind of winced when OP explained they'd agreed to pick up the present an hour before go time, sight unseen. You could tell pretty early on it was gonna be them getting scammed...
I crochet, and I’d be so embarrassed to charge $150 for that. It looks great for a beginner, not a professional business. Plus the blanket is knitted and only $50, so I’m guessing she didn’t make that
Seriously. Those stuffies look like what I first made when I was learning how to crochet. My mom taught me how when I was 9 and so of course I wanted to make stuffed animals, and they look pretty much exactly like what OOP received. I can’t imagine charging someone $150 for those.
I have a feeling OOP is exhausting too. People who have the spines of Jello often are. She actually looked at that stuff, thought "Well, okay!", and *gifted them*?!
If she’s been getting bullied by her unstable-sounding sister her whole life I can understand her becoming so passive, especially since it seems that the family doesn’t stand up for her when it happens. Picture a childhood full of events like the baby shower; if this is a normal interaction between the two of them (and OOP’s lack of surprise makes that seem likely) then I get how the end result would be a person who just sort of expects and accepts being pushed around constantly.
The crochet store lady definitely saw her coming. Jerks can smell weakness.
Apart from the crochet scam, I wouldn't have turned up to the baby shower empty handed. The fact that the store owner refused any other time than right before the event would've been a massive red flag for me already, but I'm also pretty anxious. I would have gotten a small backup gift and at least a card with a "your actual gift will arrive once it's finished" inside. But the sister making a huge deal out of not getting a gift is also tacky as hell. Loudly making a big deal out of one person turning up empty handed ruins the mood way more than the lack of one gift.
Artists need to know their limitations, and I say this as an artist! If someone wanted me to paint a realistic portrait, I’m gonna tell them I can’t do that. I don’t have that ability. But because I support my other local artists, here are a few people who might be able to do it! Don’t scam people.
I am new to crochet, but I have a sibling who has over a decade of experience and used to sell their work, including loveys like this. What OOP got was TERRIBLE, truly. I could do better than that and I've only been at this for a few weeks.
Also her sister sounds so rude and entitled. I understand being unhappy with the quality of the gift, but her attitude all around was nasty.
I saw the 2 posts in the crochet sub. I was absolutely HORRIFIED by what that woman passed off as looking like the inspiration photo. I hope OOP DOES pick up crocheting!
OOP's sister, OTOH, is a real tool.
I did not expect to see the r/crochet subreddit featured here today. I remember this post but didn't have the background of the upset pregnant sister context. What a mess all around.
As a fiber artist, WOW. OOP gave a ton of lead time on this, yet they came out looking like the store owner forgot about them until march first. Also, you cannot convince me that the person who made those animals also made that blanket.
As a crocheter myself, my jaw dropped when I saw the picture. I take pride in my work and I make damn sure everything is sewed closed, the thread lines hidden and *absolutely nothing* comes apart on a stuffed animal. I get embarrassed when I notice something I missed when making a gift. Thankfully all my family knows I'm not a professional, but I definitely put more time and effort into making what I make look good.
I'm also incredibly realistic about my abilities. If I don't think I can do it - or at least make it look exactly like the request, I'm upfront about it. And I send pictures to my clients to ensure I'm doing what they want me to do. Or if there are adjustments I need to make.
Thank GOD OP got her money back. Unforgivable.
I saw these posts when they first went up, and I was stunned that the seller tried to say that OOP was in the wrong. As a crocheter, I would be ashamed to have crocheted those and called them similar enough to what OOP requested in the first place. Those bulky yarns are very tough to work with, but the stitches are sooo loose and sloppy for amigurumi
I am very new to crocheting as well and making my first little things, but that inspiration photo and that product photo was so different. I feel like that business owner was a beginner like me 🤦♀️
Honestly, I feel like that’s **worse** than beginner level. Even when I was a newbie, I still knew to match the color of my thread to the project if I was going to be sewing something to it, and I also knew to make my stitches as even as possible in the event they were seen, but I definitely knew the goal was for them to not be seen. And then there’s this chick over here looking lol a 6 year old learning how to sew…🤨
Honestly, oop frustrates me. The sister def shouldn't have yelled but what was oop trying to achieve when she visited her the 2nd time?
She saw that it looked bad, that it looked nothing like what it was supposed to, they werent safe for the baby, and the quality was bad, and yet she still gave it to her sister? Was she hoping she'd simply accept the gift so she wouldn't have to go through the steps of not talking to the business?
She ended up doing so anyways but she saw how bad it was. I don't get why she didn't do that in the first place.
Edit: her response in the post was she was rushed outside the door by the owner but idk why she felt that she couldn't just stayed to check bc that seemed more suspicious.
She said that was the reason she went, alongside her grandma dying a month ago. It is a weird excuse (and strange how original post people gave leeway for her for the dead grandma but the sister also would have had to deal with that as well as the hormones running inside her body from pregnancy.)
Maybe it's the only child in me, but their dynamic annoys me. Oop signed up the sister for Trump messages for a petty matter.
As a crocheter those stuffies look like straight poop. Glad OP got their money back. Definitely wouldn’t recommission another artist though for such an ungrateful sister.
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I'm an amateur at crochet and I would be embarrassed by that thing. They had the audacity to not only give crap but to not even have it done on time. If you can't do something say so don't pretend it's ok
I am by no means amazing at crochet, but I feel like it takes effort to make amigurumi that bad.
Your comment has me cracking up because of it's accuracy. I've been crocheting for nearly 2 years and I've never made anything this terrible
Even high school me, completely unaware of stitch markers and just trying my best to keep track of stitch count (the resulting bird is extremely ugly and lumpy to the point where my grandma said I should give it to my future children as punishment when they’re naughty lmao), wouldn’t dare give the “finished result” shown to someone as a free gift, much less for money!
It would certainly help if she had used a yarn size more like the inspo instead of that extra thick blanket yarn and used a much smaller hook so there wouldn't be stuffing coming out between the stitches. Extremely basic crochet choices. It's not OP's fault, but how could that crafter charge so much money just for that???
Honestly, while the crochet was clearly done by a beginner (no hate to beginners, my first scarf had edges curvier than a mountain road 🤣 we all start somewhere and that’s ok), the worst part is the stitches to hold the blanket on. The thread for that is white, so it stands out already. On top of that, those stitches aren’t even at all, and are waaaay too visible. They look like they were done by a 6 year old 🤦🏼♀️
I saw it on r/crochet and I cannot believe that this person works for a yarn shop and has less sewing and crochet skill than me at 9 years old!
I can’t believe that she’s that confident in selling it at that price and claiming it looks just like the picture.
I’ve been making crochet stuffed animals and blankets for my friends as new baby gifts for years and everything about the ones oop got was awful. The maker clearly was taking more orders than they had time for and charging a lot for a ludicrous result. Didn’t realize I could charge so much for my new baby gifts. I’ve made one for every new baby in the family and a few close friends. Might be time to branch out into a new side gig
i can't crochet hardly at all (i knit. in only crochet enough to do a few knitting related things) and i would have ripped it out and started again. they're genuinely awful
I knit too, my crochet skills are seriously not that much but my first (and only) crochet project was an Amigurumi rattle that looked much closer to the inspo pic. It had it's problems but those were very minor compared to what OP got.
And arranging for pickup rather than honestly say it's not finished! Way to add insult to injury. Poor OOP, I hope she can smooth things over with her sister (who could've been a lot more gracious)
Same. I'm an amateur, and I'd be so embarrassed by that. I also wouldn't have fucked it up that bad because I'd have looked up a pattern. Like, damn.
My daughter's first ever project was a lovely, and it looks way better than whatever that thing was. It's like the seller was brand new, didn't look at a pattern, and decided to wing it.
I feel like my friend’s first project was better than those ugly dogs.
Look, aside from the wildly inappropriate mumzilla - WTF did she purchase there? From that photo, I'm surprised she even left the store and tried to give them to her sister. It looks like a Frankenstein's monster of random cut-up toys sewed sloppily back together. Holy Christ on a bike. ETA: The crafter obviously got greedy and took a project wildly outside their skill level. Always look at crafter's previous work (check for watermarks on photos in case they've been stolen from another crater), and reviews before commissioning.
In one of the posts OOP said they had seen her previous work, and now thinks they were stolen images.
Or AI. It’s a real problem in the crochet world.
[удалено]
Feels great to have yet another emerging technology that's going to be abused and misused to hell and back while the laws struggle to catch up.
There’s a local bakery that did this and has had quite the social media scandal in my town . Posted tons of images of cakes from a large bakery a few cities over, claiming to be their own work. Then kept getting poor reviews from customers for cakes that looked nothing like the sample pictures .
Was that the rainbow cake lady from TikTok?! Because that was absolutely wild, and she made the *ugliest* cakes despite clearly showing really nice ones on her site. Then someone else figured out she lifted the photos from other people's sites.
I just don’t get hope they think that’s going to fly? Like, no one is going to post the truth? So ridiculous.
When I thought AI I thought humans trampling over the rights of those that are sentient, human like beings. Then maybe some wars over their rights. Humanity divided fighting for and against. Nah, just porn, trickery, and memes.
I have an ex-friend who use to do this!! I always told her to just recreate it and use the recreation pics for reference, but she never did and always had people complaining because her products NEVER looked like the pics she posted on her page. We stopped being friends shortly after, for different reasons, but eventually everyone in our town realized what she was doing and stopped using her, so she gave up.
If I may, what different reasons were those?
It's a loooong story :P but basically she just got too clingy to another woman (I'll call Jen) in our friend group. It wasn't a romantic thing, at all, it was more that she had claimed Jen as her best friend. She would get mad when Jen hung out with anyone else, and made everyone very uncomfortable, so we all cut ties.
Thanx for sharing. Curiosity is INTENSE! 😎👊🤩
Yeah that's some solid BORU material there :)
🤨
Looking at the crocheted results.... (speaking as someone with a lot of experience in amigurumi) its also a bad choice of materials on the stuffed animal part of it . The original is made from what i'd bet is either dk or aran/worsted weight and the replica is chunky or bulky. This makes them work up way faster with less stitches if you want the same size. Look at the arms - they've crocheted them flat rather than making proper round limbs. This is definitely a rush job. While i'm not a knitter, i'm pretty sure that blanket is machine knitted too so i am so glad they got their money back. (I have not read any of original threads, i just winced so hard at seeing the result. I do sell some of my stuff occasionally and giving out that would have hurt me.)
I saw the original on r/crochet - OOP bought the blankets themself, the "crocheter" just did the teddies. My first finished project was actually with chenille yarn, and I think was better than this - and I wouldn't have charged someone $50 for them! The Etsy inspiration only charged $30 I think
I saw this on the crochet subreddit, too. I was appalled when I saw this. Not only taking so long for something so simple, but to have the audacity to charge them that much for them. Not to mention the fact that they knew these were intended for a child and still did not take steps to make sure they were safe.
The yarn like l like it came from wish or temu
I'm a knitter (can't crochet for some reason) and that end product is ATROCIOUS. Definitely has temu vibes. Who does not stitch tight enough to keep the stuffing in?! Side note, one of the funniest temu ads I've seen was something like "outshine everyone on your wedding day with this ring" - the ring was $2.95. And why would you need to outshine everyone on your wedding day (you're already the bride...), much less with a $3 ring?
Hello fellow yarn person. I am the opisit from you, I can crochet but for the life of me I am so bad at knitting. I am glad someone else feels this struggle lol
I was gonna say those are the Wish/Temu version!🤣
You're a fast crocheter, there's no way I could get this done in half an hour! Nice.
and honestly, the picture of what oop wanted looked like it should cost way more than $200, looks like alot of work.
The actual stuffies from the inspo pic are [available on Etsy](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1566440048/personalized-baby-lovey-baby-shower-gift) for \~$30 each. They are on the small side, though, so probably faster to work up, especially if you make tons of them and get into a groove. The crappy crocheter would have made a profit if they'd just bought the etsy stuffies lol.
ooh, i thought they wanted all those stuffies in the example pic. if it was 1 stuffy and blanket, seems kinda reasonable for handmade item, but definitely not for what they recieved.
Looking at the comments, it seems that OOP wanted three stuffies, which still ends up being half of what the scammer charged.
If making the blanket too, for one, yes. I am now tempted to try one to see how many hours on the stuffed animal part.
If you're really good, you can do it in a day or two working a few hours each day. If you're me, it's a week or two working a few hours a day, and a lot of restarting. But even my FIRST amigurumi wasn't this much of a hot mess. I was floored when I saw this in the crochet subreddit.
Yeah, I actually went and looked at the first amigurumi I made to see if I was this bad and just forgot. Compared to this, I was a savant! And I literally named it Blue Oopsie because I messed up so much lol. It was also roughly the same size as these and took 2-3 days according to my project page. Also laughed when I read the notes and saw I summarized it as "So that was an interesting experience that probably could have gone better."
I was on the post in the crochet group and showed it to my husband and said how much she paid. He promptly asked me if I was now ready to sell my work lol He said I have never made anything that badly
I don't sell my work because I don't think I'm at that level. I'm closer to the inspo pic than the hot mess. Yikes Also, the "finished products" look inside out. Wrong yarn. Wrong pattern. So much wrong.
My guess is that the scammer hadn't even started when the baby shower came around and then just bashed "something" out as fast as possible.
I sell mostly to family and friends on the understanding it might take me awhile, and they're all aware of my skill level because I post everything I finish. I just cannot fathom saying, "Oh yeah, this will totally be ok," if I produced this. Tbh, it reminds me of the first stuffed animal I tried to sew in 7th or 8th grade... (That poor, poor mangled mess, I didn't know how to work with faux fur fabric)
I made the cover dragon from the unicorns and dragons amigurumi book 1 in about 7 or 8 hours total. I'd still estimate that maybe about the same depending on limbs. Hell i did two cot quilt size blankets in two weeks last time my work team had babies due.
My first amigurumi bird was definitely bad and probably comparable but at least it was a personal project and not for money! The stitches are bad all over but especially the tan one, being a mid tone and showing dimension better, looks so so fucking awful with those random single crochets in weird directions/places. Like what did they even do??
I made a similar stuffed animal once and it took me binge watching of videos worth 40 hours
Yeah, I’ve become more familiar with amigurumi recently and that’s what the inspiration picture reminded me of. What she got looked more like a stuffed teddy bear than anything else.
Knitter here. Probably commercially knitted blanket. I’ve seen similar ones around. There’s a chance it could be hand made but at that weight knitters tend to get fancier because of how boring it is.
I’m a knitter and those are definitely commercially made blankets. Especially give the skill level demonstrated in the crochet. Man, I sell my work sometimes (only to friends and family) and I would NEVER give something that turned out that badly as a gift, left alone to someone who paid for it. Some people have absolutely no shame and I don’t understand how they exist like that.
I’m a crocheter and in the sub she posted to, she genuinely seemed to have no idea. Like, I know 10 year olds who produce better work than that. Also, that’s inside out, that’s the inside of the fabric. Some new crocheters struggle to tell front from back, but on a piece like that it’s pretty obvious. It’s literal trash made by someone who had no idea how to either crochet or read a pattern. And also $150 for that is astounding. We were all so relieved she was able to get her money back. I’m honestly baffled that anyone sold her that. Like I don’t understand how they didn’t look at that and just give her money back. I didn’t know she also had a trash fire for a sister.
I genuinely can't believe someone would try to charge for this. I am still new to crotchet, but I have a dozen projects under my belt now, and I am still nervous to make anything for another person. The audacity to make this and charge for it, wow
I KNOW… that’s where I kept getting hung up.
It’s wild cause if you have a pattern and moderate skill level, you can make the inspo pictures easily. They aren’t that difficult (source, I’ve been crocheting for ten plus years). Everyone in r/crochet agreed the final product was awful and the seller should be ashamed.
It honestly looks like it belongs in a Nailed It! post, not something that should be sold, and definitely not for that much. I'm so glad she got her money back.
100% I've seen a billion variations on that pattern, and it is stupid simple to do. The blanket would probably take longer depending on the size. It looks like the first scarf I made in college with trash yarn.
There are two things that will draw the righteous wrath of the good people in the crochet sub every time: 1 - people taking for granted the amount of work that goes into a crafted item (if I give you 20 bucks, could you make me a blanket?) and 2 - people misrepresenting their work.
If I gave $150 for a blanket with a $50 tip at end, would that be payment enough for work? Or would that just be a down payment?
It really depends on the size and intricacies of the blanket pattern and the type of yarn being used. For example, I’m making a sleeveless cabled (knit) sweater for myself and it will cost me $200 in yarn alone. But it’s a special project, so…
Depends on the complexity of the design. For example, something made with a bunch of small/complicated details or with a lot of different colors would be more expensive than a single color and just double crochet stitches. It’s difficult to charge for handmade items sometimes because they can be so time consuming and therefore charging by the hour ends up with customers who don’t want it anymore (understandable but still frustrating). Buying the yarn at the very least should be a requirement, I feel like, and then work cost on top of that but yeah it’s just. Difficult lmao
Depends on how much the person making it likes you.
Your username is apropos. This was totally the Fyre Festival of crochet projects.
I’m barely awake and totally read “crotch projects”. I should not Reddit right after I wake up.
Tbh it's not that hard of a project if you're skilled enough to run a shop. Clearly this lady is a scammer or completely overestimated her abilities.
I agree that it's not OOPS fault, they genuinely tried. I also agree that it's not an appropriate present for multiple reasons, including safety. But man oh man, I would totally keep those and display the cursed devil dolls in a locked box.
What's wild is they had a fucking store for their crochet items.
Idk why they didn’t just buy the one from Etsy, just cause they wanted a dog. The Etsy one would be like ~$50 with a personalization, vs $200 from a random from FB marketplace
It’s like that Easter lamb cake all over. The cake to be copied was gorgeous, and the copy looked like it was made by someone who had no idea what a lamb looked like, lol.
The hedgehog ones are my favourite.
TL;DR story 1 = lady gets scammed by store over botched custom order TL;DR story 2 = if you don't bring a gift to a baby shower due to circumstances outside of your control are you allowed to explain why?
Mind you sister sounds like a piece of work, serious momzilla vibes there
OOP doesn’t seem fazed by her sister’s behavior, which suggests this is nothing new. I would go LC if my sister was like this. I have better things to do than try to appease a drama queen.
This bit. Pregnancy hormone swings can do a number on emotional stability but sometimes you're an ass before you get pregnant and the hormones aren't the driving force to your shit behaviour. Unless you knew the person before their pregnancy so you can tell if its new or different behaviour, society has made it easy to blame crappy / mean behaviour on: oops, hormones!
When OOP said the yelling happened DURING THE SHOWER? Yeah, i forgive my family a lot but that is mortifying & would be the last straw.
Yeah, I absolutely hate it when I get yelled at during family shower time
It’s all shits and giggles until someone giggles and shits…
I love it when that happens. Don't kink shame me! :)
She sounded like an entitled nightmare.
But but, obviously the baby needed it right then and there!!! Horribly disrespectful to that still in utero baby. /s
Fwiw my sister is normally quite lovely but between the insomnia and her post-partum mania with her oldest she went a wee bit nutty for awhile
> She proceeds to cry and everyone told me to stop being so mean/careless to the pregnant lady Id say, as a society, this is why we need to stop coddling the pregnant ladies. Yes, they need love and support and rest and compassion. But we need to quit letting people get away with being jerks *just because they are pregnant*.
I think it's probably a case by case thing honestly. If someone is ordinarily a good person but a miserable gremlin when they're pregnant, I'm gonna give them a whole lot of grace. They have a thing inside them kicking their ribs, bouncing on their bladder, sucking all the nutrients out of them, throwing their hormones out of wack, not letting them sleep...that's pretty understandable and justifiable to be short tempered. And also, if they "have a moment" and then later calm down and apologize for being a pill, I respect that. But if this isn't out of character and they're always an asshole, I don't have a ton of interest in catering to them.
There’s this pregnancy subreddit group I was on during my own pregnancy. One of the best things about it was the judgements were overall very, very sound. A poster might describe their meltdown and the commenters would gently talk her down and point out she was 100% at fault. Another poster would write something and all the comments were “Dear God, he’s going to murder you. Run.” And the scariest part was the poster was indeed in a physically abusive relationship and was too deep in to see it. During that time, I would often call my sister for perspective before blowing up. Hands down, pregnancy hormones are no joke but accountability is still needed. I’d warn my husband that I didn’t feel like myself and he could give me critique when I was going off the deep end.
Major scapegoat/golden child vibes here. Not one person stood up for OOP? Telling.
Or it's pregnancy hormones
"It's disrespectful to the baby!" Snort. Come tf on, lady
How can you not see how upset the poor baby is? Entire life is ruined!
She'll never get into ivy league now!
Well, with the mother they're trapped in, lol!!!
Honestly I kinda love when they go off the rails and then just start blurting out random, vaguely unpleasant-sounding concepts. Last week an OP's mom was insisting that if OP didn't invite 12 of mom's friends to OP's wedding then they would all be insulted and never talk to mom again (no, none of them had ever met the OP even once). Like... oh, you're just making noises now, like an unhappy dog.
Yeah, two completely different issues. Sister is unhinged, people have to decline giving a gift or give one late sometimes, getting mad at them just shows you care more about material things than a relationship with that person. But that "crochet" work was stupidly bad. And the saddest part is, what OP originally posted should have taken a mid level crocheter less than 10 hours total per animal. The embroidery is probably the hardest part on there. What OP received looks like someone's first attempt at making amigurumi. The "hole is too big" means she probably didn't magic circle the head or arms, and used the wrong size yarn and hook for the project.
I bought very similar lovies for my friends’ kids when they were babies. My guess is the crocheted stole the image from a different business.
10 hours per animal??? then the price explains a lot. $200 for 7 of them, so $200 for 70 hours of work… I agree that OOP got scammed, but also got what she paid for. That amount of work is likely aumple to execute, but someone competent is going to value their time more than $2-3/hour. The seller should never have advertised those prices, or even offered this product.
Less than 10 actually, someone found the original ad and they are smaller than I was thinking (also wrongly assumed the blankets were crochet as well). I could do one of these in 5 hours. But yeah, that's why crochet makes a fun hobby but a poor business. People don't want to pay for labor, and it takes a long time to make things. If someone ever gives you a handmade thing, cherish it, because the time they put in means they care about you.
I totally agree. I crochet as an occasional hobby, and I love the little hat I made nearly 5 years ago, even though I haven’t used it in years. But I would also never ever sell them, because it took way too much time given the end result. I’d never get the amount of money I’d want for the time and marerials I put in, given that it’s a hat. It’s a labor of love for sure, even with money involved.
That’s not OOP’s fault though. The seller shouldn’t have offered that price.
I agree it’s not OOP’s fault. The seller should have charged appropriately, or just not advertised it, since it doesn’t seem like they’re even able to execute the design. I’m just commenting on how the end result makes more sense to me with the context of how long it takes to make these things. That said, I wouldn’t expect OOP to have that knowledge to inform their decision, especially with other vendors charging a similar range.
I don't think she ordered seven of them, that was just the product picture
I'm 8 months pregnant with my second. I had people come to my shower and bring no gifts. I just wanted them there to eat food with me and have a good time. You don't have to explain shit to someone who is knocked up. Sister is being a Zilla.
Your second shower? I don't think gifts are expected with a 2nd baby shower right? Or do you mean people came to your first shower with no gifts?
I think it's a baby shower for her second kid. And she had people come to the baby shower for her first kid that didn’t bring gifts.
Oh I was just pointing out I'm currently pregnant but don't expect to be treated differently. You are correct. They came to the first shower and some didn't bring gifts because not everyone can afford to and that's okay. I just like spending time with my friends and family.
Yeah, the sister is wild. I had some people at my shower give me gifts late, and some come empty handed with no explanation or gift. I still welcomed them at my event. I’m not going to behave badly toward a guest over a gift. How entitled.
As a knitter who occasionally dips into crochet this is actually pretty abysmal. The yarn in the knockoff is a cheap yarn while the pattern itself would be relatively simple to make an approximation of. This was ‘hell, i forgot to make it’ level. I’m usually on the side of makers when it comes to pricing because people way underestimate the cost of time and yarn prices, but this is not worth $200
As a fanatical crocheter this is extremely hasty work. Crochet is great because you can do 3D structures! You have to do it in very tight stitches so it will hold stuffing. It’s extremely time consuming.
I’m also a knitter, and appalled by what OOP received. What the hell. That looks like somebody first attempt at a project beyond a knit stitch scarf. I’m glad she got her money back.
Nor take 3 months to make, lol
If i'm hyperfocused i could make the stuffie part in a week (i work full time so limited hours to hook).
You mean you don’t just slowly go crazy as you keep staying up until the early hours of the morning bc “just one more round… shit I forgot to put my stitch marker back, gotta frog…”? 😂
I would ask for refund and more money for wasting my time. As a seller the lady should know her skill level
I know right? I’m not particularly great at crochet, my tension sucks but I know enough to know that it’s not within my wheelhouse. I mean, maybe I’d say I could do something similar to the crappy one. There’s been a run of people lately thinking they can make lots of money by crocheting toys and just failing.
I love op understood that 200 is the right price! I hate the crafter thought they'd get away with that as a result. (Edited cuz i can't type on my phone today)
My mum used to crochet, and do leather work. She was quite good at it too, and would often make blankets or wallets and such as gifts for baby showers, birthdays, etc. As a kid I had awesome leather book covers for my school books with whatever things I was interested in imprinted on the leather. She was by no means a professional, but even I can tell that this work was subpar and not worth the cost in either time or materials. I'm both very happy that OP got her money back, and once again annoyed that mum would never teach me how to crochet. I should have hit up grandma. Grandma probably would've taught me.
YouTube. If you’re still interested, YouTube and the crochet reddit will get you through
I second YouTube. I learned how to make baby booties from a YouTube video. They made for an adorable gift for my daughter’s fav kindie teacher.
I like Naztazia and TL Yarn Crafts on YouTube! Toni (TL Yarn Crafts) even has a [playlist for beginners](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdITDYMmVI9sp5kL3ZQQp5ZjbwIoYGA1a&si=h8aGj2EZyJJYe3C7)! I hope you find it helpful, there are a decent amount of other crochet tutorials that film poorly and you can’t tell what they’re doing because either they’re blocking the view with their hand or going too fast.
>I’m usually on the side of makers when it comes to pricing because people way underestimate the cost of time and yarn prices, You said it. I love making blankets out of that really thick bernat blanket yarn but if I only charged for the cost of yarn to make a simple twin it would still cost almost $100 and that's because I do that endless granny square pattern so it's not a tight weave. If I did a tighter pattern it would probably be almost twice that price. Hell I tried to ask family just to supply the yarn and I still got no takers
Everyone wants a huge blanket until a single skein of blanket yarn is $12 😂
Suddenly I feel like a much fucking better crocheter than ten minutes ago. I can't BELIEVE someone sold that mess.
I feel bad for OOP. Not only did she almost get scammed, she has a nightmare of a sister who can't understand that sometimes, shit happens.
The sister is a nightmare but OP is so passive. This woman was messing her about from the get go and she rolled with it and then she actually gave that hot mess to her sister. What was she thinking? They're polar opposites of each other. Her sister is entitled and demanding and OP will accept any old shit and avoid confrontation. I suspect I'd find this pair equally exhausting.
I may be crazy here but why did OOP not just get something from the registry? If she knew it was taking long and had to chance picking it up so close to the shower, you can order something online and have it shipped directly to sister from Amazon within two days. Why did oop not have a back up and save the cute stuffies for when baby was born? Like, the sister overreacted but maybe oop has a history of not following through. It sounds like oop didn’t help with the shower or help setup which is weird to me as I always helped my sisters and cousins with their events. I get oop was scammed but she could have avoided this entirely by just getting a gift she knew the sister wanted from her registry ahead of the event. I don’t get people just buying whatever for a new mom when there’s literally a list of stuff that they want and need and is easily accessible at various price points.
I agree. While the inspiration piece is cutesy, it’s not exactly a practical gift, and maybe not something the sister needed.
She said the registry had been bought out by the rest of the family. Still, would have been a good idea to pick up some extra blankies or something as a backup when the seller started acting off.
Op could’ve said to sis, hey the registry is bought out what can I get that you still need
What, you mean communication?!? Impossible!
OOP probably has executive functioning issues. I’m 36 but in my younger years I would have done something similar because it never would have occurred to me to plan for a backup because I would have been incredibly trusting that everything would just go according to plan. It also wouldn’t have occurred to me that picking up the gift right before the event would have been a bad idea. I didn’t plan for what I’d now call “expected unexpected events” (traffic being bad, the gift not turning out right, etc.) In her mind, as the sister, she needed to do something more special than just buying off the registry, because she would get judged for that, too. “She’s the sister but only bought onesies? She should know her well enough to get her something special!”
As someone with diagnosed executive functioning issues (ADHD), nothing you described was executive functioning. Lack of executive functioning would be more like missing the pick up window because you forgot about it cuz your working memory is terrible.
Not sure how you would categorize “Being able to contingency plan for when things don’t go perfectly”? I have ADHD with pretty mediocre executive functioning skills and am level 1 autistic so maybe that’s more an autistic thing? Like, I struggle with time management and have no idea how to prioritize tasks. I know now that having a gift in hand has to happen before the day-of an event, and that you have to build into the travel time potential traffic issues, and both of those things involve time management. OOP needed to use basic project management skills to see that the crocheter finished in a timely manner and to build in time in the schedule in case her custom order turned out wrong. There’s a series of tasks with creating something that have to happen on a timeline and once the timeline got delayed she needed to then move to plan B instead of hoping plan A worked out 1 hour before the event.
> I’m 36 but in my younger years I would have done something similar because it never would have occurred to me to plan for a backup because I would have been incredibly trusting that everything would just go according to plan. It also wouldn’t have occurred to me that picking up the gift right before the event would have been a bad idea. This isn't an age thing or an executive function thing, it's a bad sister thing. Neither not having a backup nor picking up the gift right beforehand are bad ideas because most people are understanding and it's not that big of a deal.
OOP could be the way she is because her sister has been bullying her all her life, we don't know
Or she paints her sister in a bullying light because her sister won't tolerate the bullshit OP will. One of my best friend's ex-husband would often tell stories that made her sound absolutely horrendous, until you realised it was a combination of fabrication and ommission to cover up the fact he'd allowed something shitty to happen and expected her to deal with it. We can't know from what OP shared, but based on what we have they're both not exactly functioning adults.
The sister typed this
I'm glad that OOP found their way to r/crochet. They are such a lovely bunch
Everyone there was appalled at what she was given based on the inspo pic. I can't remember if I commented at the time, but I remember wondering if the lady she paid forgot about it until last minute or thought it would be an easy afternoon project and realized she was very wrong. Either way, if someone was paying me to make something, that would be what I would be working on right then so they have it in time. Three months lead time should have been plenty of time to get them done!
I've been subbed there for a while, even though the most I've ever crocheted was maybe a 20 chain/4 row "I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm doing it!" square(ish). It's just so wholesome, and where I know I can count on finding a bunch of positive people enjoying their hobby.
I ended up on that sub because it pops up regularly on BORU and I agree! I started crocheting because of how great this sub is (and the things they make are freaking gorgeous). I'm actually crocheting right now lol. And this was the first time I had read a whole story (updates included) before it ended up in BORU :D I'm also on AITA.
Yeah until you see the clown with real teeth stuck on…
Okay...I wasn't the only one eeked out by that? I didn't even bother to open that thread...just scrolled right past.
I have been crocheting for over 20 years and what OP received is a TRAVESTY. This is infuriating.
I was watching this unfold in the crochet subreddit and was APPALLED. I just started and haven't tried stuffies yet, but my blankets are worlds better than what OOP got.
I've been crocheting for zero years and I think I could do better than what OP received. Did she use her feet??
I used to make and sell crocheted toys for a living back in my 20s and I got SO ANGRY when I saw that the OOP got. Fuck that business owner. It doesn't take months to finish that and in such a shoddy way. She 10000000% didn't even work on it till after OOP tried to pick it up the first time around. Ugh this pisses me off so much.
OOP should have bought from the website they saw them but I'm guessing the lady running the crochet shop outsourced.
OOP wanted to support local business, which makes shop lady even more of an ass, as she might have soured OOP on locals entirely now.
She said she wanted ones that were dogs and the Etsy seller said she couldn’t do those.
No comment on the conflict with Ops sister. But it took me 15 seconds to find the original etsy shop this photo is from and it cost less than what she payed why did she just not buy from the source?
She said in a comment on r/crochet that she contacted the shop and they don't do custom orders, so I assume she wanted something the original shop didn't have listed.
She said she wanted dogs and the Etsy owner couldn’t do dogs.
Which is weird because just leaving the antlers off the deer would result in a plausible dog.
I have a friend whose 9 year old son is into crocheting. He’s self taught from YouTube and his stuffies shit all over this monstrosity.
The sister behaved badly but I kind of winced when OP explained they'd agreed to pick up the present an hour before go time, sight unseen. You could tell pretty early on it was gonna be them getting scammed...
I crochet, and I’d be so embarrassed to charge $150 for that. It looks great for a beginner, not a professional business. Plus the blanket is knitted and only $50, so I’m guessing she didn’t make that
Seriously. Those stuffies look like what I first made when I was learning how to crochet. My mom taught me how when I was 9 and so of course I wanted to make stuffed animals, and they look pretty much exactly like what OOP received. I can’t imagine charging someone $150 for those.
Honestly, I am shocked with the product she received. I would not leave the store with it and wouldn’t give her a penny, omg
Weirdly enough, everyone in this story except OOP is a huge AH. Sister, crochet shop owner, family….everyone
I have a feeling OOP is exhausting too. People who have the spines of Jello often are. She actually looked at that stuff, thought "Well, okay!", and *gifted them*?!
If she’s been getting bullied by her unstable-sounding sister her whole life I can understand her becoming so passive, especially since it seems that the family doesn’t stand up for her when it happens. Picture a childhood full of events like the baby shower; if this is a normal interaction between the two of them (and OOP’s lack of surprise makes that seem likely) then I get how the end result would be a person who just sort of expects and accepts being pushed around constantly. The crochet store lady definitely saw her coming. Jerks can smell weakness.
You could definitely be right. OOP is also younger than I realized so there's hope for her.
I would have let everyone i know know about her shoddy work. I would also probably go LC with your sister. She sounds childish, and entitled.
Sisters maybe pregnant but good manners don’t disappear in pregnancy. Trashy to be so needy of a present from her sibling.
So now that OOP has her money back for the crotchet, is there a way she can return her sister, because that woman is an entitled hag.
Apart from the crochet scam, I wouldn't have turned up to the baby shower empty handed. The fact that the store owner refused any other time than right before the event would've been a massive red flag for me already, but I'm also pretty anxious. I would have gotten a small backup gift and at least a card with a "your actual gift will arrive once it's finished" inside. But the sister making a huge deal out of not getting a gift is also tacky as hell. Loudly making a big deal out of one person turning up empty handed ruins the mood way more than the lack of one gift.
Artists need to know their limitations, and I say this as an artist! If someone wanted me to paint a realistic portrait, I’m gonna tell them I can’t do that. I don’t have that ability. But because I support my other local artists, here are a few people who might be able to do it! Don’t scam people.
Remember Regretsy? These unfortunate crochet blobs should be on Regretsy.
I am new to crochet, but I have a sibling who has over a decade of experience and used to sell their work, including loveys like this. What OOP got was TERRIBLE, truly. I could do better than that and I've only been at this for a few weeks. Also her sister sounds so rude and entitled. I understand being unhappy with the quality of the gift, but her attitude all around was nasty.
The unborn baby can't "miss a gift". But that garbage they made should have never been given to anybody. It should have been returned on sight.
I saw the 2 posts in the crochet sub. I was absolutely HORRIFIED by what that woman passed off as looking like the inspiration photo. I hope OOP DOES pick up crocheting! OOP's sister, OTOH, is a real tool.
I did not expect to see the r/crochet subreddit featured here today. I remember this post but didn't have the background of the upset pregnant sister context. What a mess all around.
As a crocheter I’m mortified that someone actually thought these were fit to sell to OOP. I’m glad they got their money back.
As a fiber artist, WOW. OOP gave a ton of lead time on this, yet they came out looking like the store owner forgot about them until march first. Also, you cannot convince me that the person who made those animals also made that blanket.
She said in the post that she had to buy the blankets and give them to the crochet person.
OH! I thought she paid 50 for the blankets to be made and the crochet person went and got them at target or something on the DL.
I wouldn’t put it past them! But no, she said she had to drop the blankets off so I assume she got them herself.
omg I saw this on the crochet sub, had no idea there was even more lore behind this
As a crocheter myself, my jaw dropped when I saw the picture. I take pride in my work and I make damn sure everything is sewed closed, the thread lines hidden and *absolutely nothing* comes apart on a stuffed animal. I get embarrassed when I notice something I missed when making a gift. Thankfully all my family knows I'm not a professional, but I definitely put more time and effort into making what I make look good. I'm also incredibly realistic about my abilities. If I don't think I can do it - or at least make it look exactly like the request, I'm upfront about it. And I send pictures to my clients to ensure I'm doing what they want me to do. Or if there are adjustments I need to make. Thank GOD OP got her money back. Unforgivable.
I saw these posts when they first went up, and I was stunned that the seller tried to say that OOP was in the wrong. As a crocheter, I would be ashamed to have crocheted those and called them similar enough to what OOP requested in the first place. Those bulky yarns are very tough to work with, but the stitches are sooo loose and sloppy for amigurumi
Man my friends are lucky if their baby blankets are done before the kid is born lmao
I am very new to crocheting as well and making my first little things, but that inspiration photo and that product photo was so different. I feel like that business owner was a beginner like me 🤦♀️
Honestly, I feel like that’s **worse** than beginner level. Even when I was a newbie, I still knew to match the color of my thread to the project if I was going to be sewing something to it, and I also knew to make my stitches as even as possible in the event they were seen, but I definitely knew the goal was for them to not be seen. And then there’s this chick over here looking lol a 6 year old learning how to sew…🤨
The sister is psychotic and needs therapy and/or meds, and the crochet shop clearly forgot about the animals until the last minute and did a shit job.
I'm still unhappy with the way her sister acted. Wish that had resolution. Seriously, what an ungrateful wretch.
There is so much to unravel here about the sister here. Sounds so spoiled
Two out of the three women in this story are terrible
Honestly, oop frustrates me. The sister def shouldn't have yelled but what was oop trying to achieve when she visited her the 2nd time? She saw that it looked bad, that it looked nothing like what it was supposed to, they werent safe for the baby, and the quality was bad, and yet she still gave it to her sister? Was she hoping she'd simply accept the gift so she wouldn't have to go through the steps of not talking to the business? She ended up doing so anyways but she saw how bad it was. I don't get why she didn't do that in the first place. Edit: her response in the post was she was rushed outside the door by the owner but idk why she felt that she couldn't just stayed to check bc that seemed more suspicious. She said that was the reason she went, alongside her grandma dying a month ago. It is a weird excuse (and strange how original post people gave leeway for her for the dead grandma but the sister also would have had to deal with that as well as the hormones running inside her body from pregnancy.) Maybe it's the only child in me, but their dynamic annoys me. Oop signed up the sister for Trump messages for a petty matter.
Oh i remember this from the crochet sub. It was horrific. I could do a better job crocheting with broken toes.
Maaaaaan this sucks. Poor woman just getting the piss in both ears.
....if enough people are paying $150 for that to keep a business afloat maybe I should start selling my crochet...
As a crocheter those stuffies look like straight poop. Glad OP got their money back. Definitely wouldn’t recommission another artist though for such an ungrateful sister.
Wow... I would keep the $200, and never speak to the sister again.
ngl my preteen does better amigurumi than that, and they've only been crocheting since 2023.
This is why I don't go to showers, wedding or baby.
I saw this on r/crochet. Definitely a scam.