Worst Case Scenario

The highlight of my day: I was asked to make a set of 4 potholders for roughly 20 dollars. I had a set thing in my head. I was going to do a basic square potholder, straight single crochet with nothing particularly special other than that it was double sided. I come back later to find out that the item that inspired my client to buy it was a scrubby I made (also learned and RE-emphasized for the 40th time by my mother that when I make flyers I must label my items on my flyers accordingly, since the scale made the palm size scrubby look HUGE.) So like the rational person I am I scrap plan A and begin to rework and improvise a nice larger dense scrub. In the middle of this I think “what if I make conceptual items? I know about small potholders in quilting that fit JUST enough to cover your hands and can be used to hold pots AND coffee cups! People LOVE that right?”
Psh, wrong! After frogging several times and getting the silly thing the right size then all of it uniform, I show them proudly for my final consultation with the clients liason (I.e mom)

“These aren’t square, what are they?”
“They are potholders mother, they are convenient so you can use them for a microwave and for the oven.”
“that’s cute, but THEY’RE NOT SQUARE”

Its every craft worker’s worst nightmare: you are given a request for an item and there is little to no description besides what they want, the color and if you are lucky the fiber content. You pour out your heart into what you think is a fun idea and it pretty much gets squashed. Its common though, it happens. The question is what do you do now?

1. Admit that this is a mistake of situation, which can be the hardest for me. I have to deal with this person closer than normal. Crap
2. Asses it: she doesn’t like it because it isn’t beautiful, it just isn’t what she wants
3. Remedy: For me, its making a new set. Plain and simple and pretty. Every mistake should just be seen as a new opportunity, and for me this is just another set to remember to post on esty.
4. Tell the person! You would be surprised how understanding people can be when you just plain mess up, tell them then remedy it, simple and plain

Oh well, you win some you lose some, these cloths need a home.