i beat the bloody octopus and got schematics for it's epic armor. every time i ask the darn height challenged swarf to build it for me i get a new silver sword.

bloody hell, what madness is that? i want the darn armor like in the pretty (yet tiny) picture in the UI!

Sorry to disappoint, but hooded armors in this game make Geralt look like a zombie.

It's jarring.

EDIT: as for your issue, try making the armor @ the other two crafters in chapter 1.

Says you. I think it looked magnificent. Sad to see it go towards the end of Chapter 2 when I finally found something better.