Hello my friends, and welcome to Simply Hooked, a crochet
podcast. I'm your host Marcy, a crochet
designer, mom of two, and creative entrepreneur.
Here we celebrate the joy of crochet and talk about what it
really means to create a life you love through your own unique
gifts. Hello my friends, do you
remember the very first time you saw a crochet pattern?
I sure do. I remember opening 1 and
thinking, what in the world is this?
It felt overwhelming right from the start.
There were abbreviations everywhere.
Parentheses, brackets, numbers, it all felt like way too much
information at once. One of the very first patterns I
ever tried was a pair of baby booties, and I remember sitting
there with the pattern in front of me and a separate print out
of the abbreviations, and I was constantly looking back and
forth trying to figure out what stitch I was supposed to do next
and if I was reading it correctly.
It was slow, it was frustrating, and it was discouraging.
But looking back now, I just hadn't learned the language yet
is all it was. And today all of those
abbreviations make complete sense and it feels like reading
a book like it's nothing. But it took time and repetition
to get there. So I wanted to kind of break
some things down about patterns today.
So if you are just starting out with crochet, this will be a
great episode for you. So here's what it comes down to.
Crochet patterns are simply written in shorthand and that
has evolved over time. So once you understand why they
look the way they do and how to approach them, they become far
less intimidating. So let's start at the beginning.
Why do crochet patterns even look like this in the 1st place?
So they were actually originally designed to be printed in books
and magazines where space was limited and expensive.
So designers had to communicate as much information as possible
using as few words as possible. So that's why everything is an
abbreviation. So because of that, crochet
patterns evolved to become compact, efficient and
consistent. So they are less like a friendly
blog post and more like a recipe card written by someone who
assumes you already know how to cook.
So let's talk abbreviations because this is usually where
the panic sets in. When you're first starting out,
you see things like SCINCDECSTS and it feels like you are
staring at another language because I mean, you are really
when you first start. But the abbreviations exist for
one reason, and that is just efficiency.
So single crochet is SC increase becomes Inc and these short, the
shortened terms make patterns faster and easier to read once
you know what they mean. So it really is like a recipe
When you're baking, TSP is much faster to read than teaspoon,
right? So crochet patterns work the
same way. So when you see MC that is
shorthand for start with a magic circle.
When you see Inc, it simply means to put two single crochets
into one stitch, which is an increase.
But you really just have to check that first page of every
pattern for the abbreviation section, because every designer
does things a little differently.
So in my patterns, for example, you'll see s s for slip stitch
and other patterns. Slip stitch may be written as
SLST, so neither is wrong. It's just a designer's
preference. So it's just something to to
keep an eye out for. All right, so now let's talk
about the part of patterns that start to look like algebra.
Do you remember this? I want to use a real example
here because seeing it, or hearing it rather, makes a big
difference. So in the body of my most recent
Unicorn pattern, round four says Bracket Inc, comma SC in three
bracket times 8 and then ( 40. The brackets are a grouping
tool. So anytime you see brackets,
that means that everything inside of the brackets is one
set of instructions. And the times 8 tells you to
repeat that set of instructions inside the brackets 8 times.
And the number of stitches that you should end up with at the
end of that round is 40. That's the number in
parentheses. So that number at the end is
really there to help you. It's like a check engine light.
You know, if you count that round and you end up with 39
stitches or 41 stitches, you've got to pause and figure out what
happened. You must have put an extra
increase or one less increase, but the earlier you can catch
these mistakes, the better. And one of the most important
parts of a crochet pattern and often commonly skipped parts is
the notes section at the beginning.
They don't all have notes, but when they do have notes, pay
attention because there's a reason that they're there.
I know it's tempting to just jump in around 1 and get
started, but the notes section is usually where the designer is
explaining something unique in the pattern that you need to
keep an eye out for, and if you miss those details, it's just
going to make the pattern feel confusing later on.
So for example, my cow lovey pattern, I designed the blanket
to be a solid granny square and at the top of the pattern I have
a technical notes section that is really important.
This is the only pattern where I've actually had a handful of
people reach out all with the same problem and it ended up
being because they all bypassed the technical notes part which
would have saved them a lot of frustration on the blanket.
So this is going to be a mouthful, but here we go.
So the pattern part of the pattern says the chain 4 that
you start each round with serves as one of the four double
crochet that go into each corner.
And for the last double crochet of each round, you are going to
insert your insert your hook into the corner space from the
previous round. Then you're going to do 1 double
crochet and then slip stitch to the second chain in the
beginning of chain 4. Gosh, that sounds so complicated
when you read it out loud. Normally you're not reading
crochet patterns out loud. That makes a lot more sense on
paper, I promise. But Long story short, makers
were not counting that chain 4 as one of the double crochet.
And so they kept going and realized one corner of the
blanket was looking a little wonky.
And they're like, why is this happening?
It's like you put an extra, you know, one of that chain 4 is
supposed to count as one of the double crochet, but they were
adding an extra double crochet in there.
So if you see any sort of note section from the designer at the
top, just read it. There is a reason that it's
there. And it could, you know, reading
2 minute read could save you from an hour of frustration down
the line. Another detail that is almost
always found on that first page is going to tell you if the
pattern is written in US terms or UK terms.
And this is a big one because you may remember that episode I
did previously explaining the difference between the two and
it's a significant difference. So a single crochet in US terms
is what I would call a double crochet in UK terms.
So you can follow a pattern perfectly and do every stitch
exactly as it's written and still come up with something
that does not look right. I remember going back and forth
with a customer a few months ago who was making my giraffe lovey
pattern and I couldn't figure out why her blanket was not
working out. And about 5 e-mail exchanges
later, she actually was the one that figured it out.
She, she said this is written in UK terms, right?
I thought, Oh no, this is written in US terms.
And I had not indicated that on the pattern.
So ever since that happened, I've been, I've been adding that
to my first page of patterns. So once you know to check for
that, you can also avoid a lot of unnecessary frustration.
So before you ever pick up your hook on a project, I recommend
doing 3 simple things. First, just read through the
pattern. First, just read through the
materials and the abbreviations so you know what to expect.
Second, you're going to want to skim the pattern from start to
finish. Not to understand every single
stitch, but just see the structure.
And 3rd, mentally breakdown the pattern into sections.
So when you look at my Unicorn pattern, it's not one giant
project. Its legs and then it's the body
and then it's the snout. You know it fine.
And then they all worked and then you sew all your pieces
together, but you're never doing it all at once.
And when you kind of section it out like that, it's a lot more
manageable and it doesn't feel so intimidating.
So the more patterns you read, you know, the easier this will
become to understand. And here is a simple way to
practice without pressure. So pick a pattern, pour yourself
a cup of coffee and just read it.
No hook required. Just read it like a book.
Read the notes, check the terminology, skim the sections
and just let your eyes kind of get used to the flow of patterns
and how they're written. And just remember, you are
learning a new language and like learning any new language,
fluency comes with time. So hang in there.
You're doing awesome. That is it for today.
I hope that this was helpful. And one quick note also to
anyone that has ever purchased a pattern for me on my website
before today. This weekend I updated my
digital delivery system, which means all of the previous
download links no longer work and this new app that I
installed on my website emailed all of my previous customers
with a new link. So the way the e-mail came
across it may have looked spammy or weird.
I know I had a few people reach out like I didn't buy a pattern
today. Why is this?
Why is it sending me this? So that is why if you got an
e-mail from me with a link, but you haven't bought a pattern in
a year, that is why. So it's just a fresh link so
that you don't lose access to the pattern.
And I got to tell you, the reason I decided to do this is
because I am building out a simply hooked pattern vault.
I want to give you access to my entire library of patterns,
which is almost 100 designs plus every future pattern that I
release forever, all for one fixed price.
So instead of buying patterns 1 by 1, you can make a single
investment upfront and save at this point at least 30% compared
to purchasing them individually. And then the best part is that
the value just keeps growing because the more patterns I add
to the vault, your savings increases automatically.
So everything will be neatly organized and stored in your own
online portal. So when you go to my website,
you look at the go to the homepage.
At the top right corner, you'll see the little shopping cart.
And then next to that you see a little person.
If you click on that, you can create an account and it's no
password. It's just you enter your e-mail
and then it'll send a verification code to your
e-mail. And that's how you create an
account. And so you can see your
purchases stored in there and if you get, if you purchased the
pattern vault, which will be available soon, it's not there
yet. If you purchased that, you will
be able to log in and see all of the patterns stored organized
by, you know, farm animals, ocean animals, cup cozies.
I'm going to have that all lined up for you.
But also, it's not going to be just patterns.
I'm going to be including resources like my new craft
market prep bundle and my pattern design template and a
few other digital products that I'm working on, which will
include an Omagorami accessories bundle and an embroidery guide.
Both of those are coming soon, so keep an eye out for that.
All right friends, that is it for this week.
Please visit marcmade.co to browse my patterns and check the
link in my show notes to join my community on school.
I hope you all have a wonderful day and I will see you next
week.