Twenty years of crochet and a pattern designer

I have been crocheting for twenty years. Not always the same thing, and not always with the same energy, but I have never really been able to put it down.

From scarves to tablecloths

There were times when I crocheted nothing but scarves, one after another, because with a scarf the hands work and the mind rests. There were times when amigurumi took over, the tiny crocheted figures where every stitch has its place and a single round out of step shows in the end. And there were times when I crocheted tablecloths, where the pattern unfolds slowly, round by round.

Each of them taught me something different. Scarves taught me patience, amigurumi precision, and tablecloths how much a well-drawn chart tells you before you have worked a single stitch. Some of what came out of all this is in the gallery.

Why I wrote a pattern designer

A stitch chart is often harder to make than the piece itself. Yet once it is in front of you, one look tells you where the next stitch goes, where you increase and how the round closes.

So I wrote a crochet pattern designer. It runs in the browser, it is free, and there is no sign-up: you pick stitches from the palette, place them freely or on a grid, and colour them in. I made it because I would like others to love crochet at least as much as I do — and to turn their own ideas into a pattern more easily.

It is still in development

The pattern designer is still being developed. It keeps growing, and there is surely something in it that is missing, or that works differently from what you would expect. I welcome any idea: a stitch that is not on the palette yet, a feature that would make your work easier, or simply what got in your way. Write to hello@dragonettecrochet.com — I read every message.