Dish Mop on Steroids

I've had my eye on this project for a while. I'm just a beginner crocheter, and this looked a little intimidating, but I finally decided today was the day. Look how cute this dish mop is!

The Original Pin

http://missabigailshopechest.blogspot.com/2011/02/vintage-design-ruffled-crocheted.html

The crocheting instructions were easy, and it came together quickly. All went well at first...until I realized this was taking on Great Hulk proportions. Yet, I continued on and finished it, wondering why mine was different.

Well...this is mine. Not so cute.

What went wrong? 

I didn't read the directions close. Had I done so, I would have gathered the right supplies. The directions are very well written, I just failed to read them completely.   

• I used size 4 yarn, not 3. 
• I just grabbed one of my crochet hooks, not checking to make sure I had the right size. I used a 5mm instead of a 2.5mm. 

By the time I got to row 4, I knew this was already way too big. So I skipped rows 5 and 6. I can't imagine how over-sized this would be had I done all the rows in the pattern. 

How to fix this:

• Read the directions and use the suggested materials. 
• A smaller hook with the same size of yarn would have made it smaller, but not as small as the pattern makes. 

There's not much I can do to the dish mop I just made to fix it. So now I've got a Crocheted Ruffled Dust Mop.

I'll try this project again when I have the right yarn and hook and see if I can't get a cute dish mop out of it.