How to Create Crochet Patterns - A Step-by-Step Guide

© Copyright 2011 Patrice Walker All rights reserved

How to Create Crochet Patterns. I’ve been crocheting for over 40 years, and during that time, I’ve always worked from crochet patterns. It wasn’t until recently, however, that I decided to start creating patterns for my own crochet designs.. What better way to combine my love of crochet with my years of experience as a technical writer. But you don’t have to be a technical writer in order to create a well-formatted and easy-to-follow pattern, and I’m going to show you how.

My step-by-step guide for creating crochet patterns involves these six steps:

Step 1: Study Commercially-Published Crochet Patterns.

Step 2: Create a “Note-Taking" Pattern Template.

Step 3: Take Copious Notes on Your Template.

Step 4: Formalize Your Notes into a Crochet Pattern.

Step 5: Test Your Crochet Pattern.

Step 6: Create a “Camera-Ready” Version of Your Pattern.

Now that you have an idea of what’s involved in creating crochet patterns, it’s time to get started.

**Note: I’m assuming that you know how to design the piece for which you want to create the pattern, including how to grade the pattern for different sizes if you’re creating one for a garment. Crochet design is beyond the scope of this article.

For those of you who'd like some help with getting ideas on what to design, putting those ideas on paper, and then translating them into a crocheted piece, I highly recommend this article.

Most of you have probably already worked from a commercially-published crochet pattern. As a result, you have pretty good idea of how they are formatted and the special language they are written in. However, there are crochet designers out there who are very good at creating crocheted hats, purses, afghans and garments without the use of a pattern and do it very well.

If you’ve never crocheted from a pattern, I suggest you find some simple patterns to work from and take time to complete them so that you get a feel for how they are laid out and the language in which they are written.

Many yarn companies such as Lion Brand, Berrocco and Plymouth have free crochet patterns that you can download from their web sites.

It’s also a good idea to review patterns in such magazines as Interweave Crochet and Crochet Today to get an idea of how they are formatted.

If you’ve already been working from patterns for a while, then you’re ahead of the game.

Although there may be slight variations from one publisher to the next, most commercial crochet patterns follow a specific format. You’ll find the following sections in most commercial patterns on the market today, often in three distinct parts:

Title of the Pattern, Designer, and Photo

This section is pretty self-explanatory, telling you the name of the pattern, who designed it (that would be you!), and a photo of the finished item.

Skill Level Somewhere at the beginning of the pattern, usually right after the pattern title and name of the designer, you’ll find a brief description or symbol that indicates the level of experience needed to complete the pattern successfully. The Craft Yarn Council of America has created a very straightforward list of skill level symbols  that you may want to use

Special Stitches

Any unusual stitches in the pattern are listed in this section, often with instructions for how to complete them.

Abbreviations

This is another critical section that you need to include since most crochet pattern instructions use a short-hand language that contains words in abbreviated format. In order to understand these instructions, the crocheter needs to know what the abbreviations stand for. A list of abbreviations and symbols included in many commercial crochet patterns can be found at the Craft Yarn Council of America website.

Notes

This section is often included so that you can give the crocheter additional information that is difficult to convey in the line-by-line instructions or that may need more explanation than the line-by-line instructions can provide.

Size

If the pattern is for a garment, there will be a list of the sizes (e.g., Small, Medium, Large) in which the piece can be made. These sizes are important because there will be changes in the number of stitches in the foundation chain , as well as changes in the number of stitches and rows to be worked, depending on the size a crocheter wants to make. Changes for sizes that are larger than the smallest size are included in parentheses.

Finished Measurements

This section provides the dimensions in inches and often centimeters (cm) of the completed piece.

Materials

Included here are the yarn, hooks, and other supplies (e.g., tapestry needles, stitch markers) needed to complete the project.

Gauge

This is a pretty important section and is usually included in most patterns. It provides the number of stitches and rows that need to be crocheted, usually within a four-inch square, in order to create a piece that has the dimensions listed in the “Finished Measurements” section of the pattern.

Instructions:

This is the “guts” of the pattern, consisting of a row-by-row (or round-by-round for crocheting in the round) list of instructions for crocheting the item. These instructions often look like hieroglyphics to beginning crocheters, but that is because they are written as succinctly as possible, making use of abbreviations and special symbols that your audience will need to be able to “translate.” All of the abbreviations and symbols used in the pattern are typically spelled out in the “Abbreviations” section.

If the crocheted item is made up of a number of pieces (e.g., a Sweater Left Front, Right Front, Sleeves), then each piece will have its own sub-section of instructions that is clearly marked as such.

This section provides information needed to complete the pattern.

• Assembly: If the item being crocheted consists of multiple pieces, this section will describe how to put them together.
• Any other steps required to finish the item (e.g., how to crochet edgings, where to sew on buttons, care instructions) are included in this part of the pattern.

• Schematics: Many garment and other kinds of patterns will include a schematic drawing of the item that provides detailed sizing information in inches and centimeters. This information, along with the pattern gauge will ensure that the finished piece has the dimensions called for in the Finished Measurements section of the pattern. (Note: The Schematics section may also appear somewhere near the beginning of the pattern.)
  

The best way to begin writing your crochet pattern is to create a template. This template serves two purposes:

• First, it can be used to take notes on while you are constructing the crocheted piece.
• Second, it will serve as a guide when you are ready to convert your notes into a formal pattern, eliminating the need to start from scratch every time you are ready to create a new pattern. And all of your patterns will be in the same format which crocheters will recognize when they see it. 

Take some time to review commercial crochet patterns from a variety of sources to get a good feel for what they look like and how they are put together.

This is a rough example of the template I use for note-taking and creating a formal pattern.

As you can see, the template includes a title page where your company logo, pattern title, your name, and a photo of the pattern will appear, as well as the section headings and sub-headings in each of the major parts of the pattern I described above.

1. Type all of the section headings and sub-headings in your word processing program, and leave enough space between the various sections and sub-sections so that you can take notes in the appropriate section.
   
2. Print out the template.
   
3. Fill in as much of the “Part I” information (on the second page of the template) as possible before you begin to work on your piece.
   

Taking notes while you are constructing your piece is a “start and stop” affair because you really want to write down everything you do as soon as you do it so that you don’t forget what you’ve done.

I would not, for example, crochet an entire sleeve and then stop to write down how I did it. Even if you have to take notes as you complete each row, you’ll be glad you did because this ensures that you record all of the information someone using your pattern to crochet from will need.

While I won’t create formal, row-by-row instructions at this stage, I will record what I’m doing with as much detail as possible (e.g., how many rows crocheted, how many stitches per row) so that I can go back later (sometimes months later!) and create the line-by-line instructions with ease.  On the other hand, you may prefer to write line-by-line instructions at this stage. If you do, they don’t have to be perfect, only understandable and detailed enough to create formal instructions later on.

When your crocheted item is completed and you’ve taken all the notes you need to create your pattern, it’s time to start the pattern-writing process. Because you’ve worked from a template, this will be a lot easier to do than if you hadn’t used one.

Formalizing your notes into a crochet pattern requires three sub-steps:

1. Create a Style Sheet.
2. Write Line-by-Line Instructions.
3. Edit the Pattern.

Each sub-step is described below.

Create a Style Sheet

Creating a style sheet to work from will go a long way in ensuring that all of your crochet patterns have the same format.

This involves deciding at the outset on such things as font type and size of headings, sub-headings, and text; text color; how you will use underlining, bold face, and italics; what kinds of headers and footers to use; page number format; and other page-design considerations.

Use the style sheet information to turn your rough, note-taking template into a formal pattern template that you will use to create the actual pattern.

Then it’s simply a matter of plugging in the information from your note-taking template into the formal one.

Write Line-by-Line Instructions.

The most challenging part of creating a crochet pattern is writing the line-by-line instructions, not only because your use of abbreviations and symbols needs to be consistent across all rows of instruction, but because you have to tell the crocheter EVERYTHING that must be done in order to complete each row or round. It is a task that requires painstaking attention to detail, so take your time as you work on these instructions.

Learn how to decipher and read the often complicated language of crochet pattern instructions. Contains detailed information on how line-byline instructions are written, common pattern terms,  as well as the abbreviations and special symbols you'll need to include in your crochet patterns.

Edit the Pattern.

When you have completed writing the entire pattern, put it away for a day or two and then pick it up again to read and edit.

• Pay particular attention to the accuracy of instructions.
• Use your style sheet to make sure your format is consistent. 
• Check to make sure your pattern contains no grammatical or spelling errors.
• Make any revisions that are needed and review the pattern again.

It may take several revision cycles before your pattern is free of errors.

It’s really a good idea to ask several people to “test” your pattern, that is, use it to crochet the item. This ensures that people other than yourself are able to understand the instructions.

Ask them to give you honest feedback on any difficulties they had with the instructions, as well as any grammatical or spelling errors that you might have missed. Use this information to make further revisions in your pattern as needed.

Once your pattern has gone through extensive editing, testing, and revision, and you are fairly certain that it is ready for publication, create a PDF version of the pattern. If you intend to self-publish and sell your pattern online, this is the format it needs to be in so that buyers can download it easily. You can use MS Word or even OpenOffice.org, a free productivity suite of the basic software applications, including PDF file conversion.

If you are creating a pattern for submission to a fiber arts publication, follow the publication’s submission guidelines.

From the pattern description:

"The Easy-Breezy Crochet Throw pattern consists of simple stitches and easy-to-follow instructions that even a novice crocheter can follow. The throw is made with machine-washable, worsted weight, acrylic yarn, making care a breeze."

Whether your intention is to self-publish your patterns or submit them to magazines for publication, knowing how to create crochet patterns that are well-formatted and easy to understand and follow is a critical skill that will serve you well throughout your career as a crochet designer.

A big thanks to:

Soskia for the crochet stone cover photo.

Dvorftygirl for the crochet hooks photo.

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