Poor deformed little snakey...

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

When I saw this book I just had to have it - but I admit, now, I'm wishing I'd checked it out from the library and given it a try first. Or, since it was the snake I really wanted to make, I probably just should have tried to wing it. But I'm still a newbie knitter, so I bought the book and followed the directions even though they looked a little off...

Here are the instructions (in part):



What immediately struck me was the non-symmetrical nature of the stitches. As you can see from the cover:



it's pretty clear the stitches are the same on the right and left side of the head. Still, I figured there was something I wasn't seeing or didn't understand, so I soldiered on... and ended up with this:



I'm not happy with the way it looks at all, honestly. The cheek bulges are too bulgy, there's too much of a hole between the stitches, and, of course, those skpo stitches are completely in the wrong place. I suppose I'll tear him out and start again, probably modifying the pattern slightly and fixing the non-symmetrical problem. But it bums me out that the easiest pattern in the book would have such a problem. If this one is wrong, what faith can I have in the complicated ones?