My mum bought me a cross-stitch pattern maker for my computer last Christmas.

I scanned some images into it, but the results seem ... well less detailed than I hoped they'd be.

Am I doing something wrong??

I was given a couple of cross-stitch pattern maker as gifts too. Just like you, I was not that lucky enough to get a real good pattern of the pictures I have scanned. I was told by a friend that it might have something to do with my scanner. I tried having the photos scanned by my cousin who has a top-of-the-line scanner and uploaded them but I still got the same results.

I posted a couple of great trials for cross stitch software in the "downloads" section of this forum. They aren't freeware, they are trial versions of the software, so you can see if you like them before you buy them.