Amigurumi Pattern Writing Tips | Podcast Episode #67

This post may contain affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy for more information.

Is writing amigurumi patterns the same as other patterns?

This is a question I’m sure you asked as soon as you had a vision for a darling crochet creature and wanted to share it with the world. Writing patterns is an art in itself and amigurumi patterns are no exception. You should take a slightly different approach to recording a pattern for your amigurumi creature so recreating it is a joyous process for someone.

Special Guest

I’m joined by, Lee, tech editor, amigurumi enthusiast, and professional crochet designer and we explore the required differences in the amigurumi pattern writing process by reflecting on our mistakes. But the fun doesn’t end there! We also chat about the tech editing process and even some of the “gray areas” of designing these cuddly creatures.

Episode Transcript

Brittany:
Hey there, and welcome to episode number 67 of the BHooked podcast. Thank you so much for joining me today. If you’re brand new to the show, I’m your host, Brittany, and I’m always so excited to bring a topic and a guest that’s fully related to crochet and knitting and yarn—pretty much all of the things that we love so much.

Well, we’ve started a new month here, and with a new month, that means we have a new topic. So this month, we’re going to talk all about Amigurumi. I have some amazing guests lined up for you this month. Some of them are brand new, and then a couple of them are repeat guests as well—some favorites that I know you’ll love to hear from.

We’re going to kick off the brand new month of Amigurumi to appeal to all of you designers out there who maybe have had an Amigurumi design in your brain and you just haven’t had the confidence or the know-how to put it down into paper and to publish it as your very own pattern.

Now, I brought an amazing guest on the show today to talk about this. She is a tech editor. She is an Amigurumi enthusiast and all around just the nicest person I think I’ve ever had the opportunity to connect with.

We talk about all kinds of things. We do mention a little bit about garment making at the beginning because both her and I are quite passionate about that, and there’s definitely some good tips that you can learn through that process. But I really wanted to dive in a little bit deeper to her skills as a tech editor.

I know there are so many questions that come up over and over about what that is and how do you have access to that person, so we do cover those as well, but we talk mostly about Amigurumi and pattern writing, and I try to extract her knowledge about the pattern writing process and the Amigurumi designing process and kind of marry those together—and you get today’s show.

As you can tell, I’m super excited about it. There are a couple of resources that we mentioned throughout our chat, and you can always find access to those resources over on my website. The show notes page for this episode is behookedcrochet.com/session067.

Before we get on to my chat with Leigh, I’m curious—when was the last time you said to yourself, “I really just wish I had a project in my hand, in my lap. I don’t want to have to find the pattern. I don’t want to have to find the perfect yarn. I just want to crochet.”

If you have ever said that once, I think you’re really going to love the Hook and Needle Club from Annie’s. This is a monthly subscription service and you receive a brand new project every single month. You get everything you need. You get all of the yarn and you get two full sets of instructions—a crochet version, and a knit version.

So honestly, the hardest decision you have to make is figuring out if you want to knit the pattern or crochet the pattern.

I have personally been able to try out the Hook and Needle Club this month here and actually—stay tuned—I’ll have a full review video posted over on my YouTube channel and my website that tells you even more about the subscription service. You can decide if this is something that’s right for you.

Now, a couple of the really cool things that Annie’s offers is when you sign up for your first subscription, you’re going to get 50% off. And you’re going to get a free gift. So those are pretty cool things. The free gift is a stitch guide, something that’s published and you can’t find anywhere else. So it’s a huge perk there.

For that first month, you’ll pay $9.99 plus shipping and handling and you’ll receive your very first kit. In that review video, I’m able to give you a preview of the first three kits that go out to brand new members. So you can have a preview of that when you check out my review video.

It’s coming this Sunday, June 10th, 2018. If you’re listening to this in the future, obviously you’ll find that on my YouTube channel or if you search for Hook and Needle Club on my website.

To get started with your subscription today, just head over to annieskitclubs.com/behooked. That’s annieskitclubs.com/b-h-o-o-k-e-d.

All right, now I have teased this episode enough. I’m so excited to introduce you to Leigh from Coco Crochet Leigh. Leigh, thank you so much for joining me today. It’s a pleasure to have you here.

Lee: 5:17
Thanks for having me, Brittany. Oh, it is wonderful. Like I said, I’m really excited to have you on the show because I know that you have some tremendous experience with designing and editing and Amigurumi. And I hope that we can touch on all three of those things here today.

Lee: 5:17
I am definitely excited about talking about all three of those things. I’m an avid designer, so Amigurumi is definitely at the heart of my crochet love.

Brittany: 5:29
Yeah. So tell me a little bit about your backstory. I mean, I have to say, honestly, I don’t really know how you got started, and I’m interested in hearing how that journey began.

Lee: 5:40
So I find that a lot of people kind of know me, but not specifically. I’ve been working in our industry for several years now, but more behind the scenes. I started working for Happily Hooked Magazine. It’s a crochet publication in print and in digital as an entry-level social media assistant.

With Happily Hooked Magazine, the team is so amazing and everybody just wants to see you grow. So as a designer as well, everybody was very encouraging. And after a few years, I worked my way up to assistant editor of the magazine when a position opened up.

So now that I’ve grown with that company, I’m also growing as an independent designer as well. And I’m starting to get out into the community more—more as myself rather than a behind-the-scenes member of the maker group.

Brittany: 6:48
Yeah, that’s cool. So you publish designs in that publication as well as on your website?

Lee: 6:54
Yes. I have a blog. I have my Ravelry store. Instagram is more my passion. And I publish designs independently, and I also publish them for the magazine and books and things like that.

Brittany: 7:09
Cool. Is there any particular—well, we know that you love Amigurumi and you have several designs for that. Is there any type of pattern that you really are just drawn to, like you really like creating?

Lee: 7:24
My favorite type of crochet design to create is wearable garments. So things that I would like to wear and enjoy and keep in my closet. Lately I’ve been designing a lot of sweaters and tops and seasonal items—just anything that I can wear around and be happy to show off.

Brittany: 7:51
Yeah, there’s really something to be said about having something that is really useful at the end of all of that time and effort. I know that at the end of some of my projects in the past, I get to the end and I’m like, “Well, now what do I do with it?”

So I don’t always have a recipient in mind to give it to. It may be random or maybe it didn’t turn out like it should. And so I’m really making it a mission this year to only make something—only release patterns for something—that I would find use for too.

And that was something that I did as a designer. I like to create things that other people would use and would enjoy. So I really wanted to change that focus for myself because, like I said, I ended up with all of these things that I spent so much time and effort and energy on, and I really didn’t have a lot to show for all of that time.

So garments is one of the things that I have really tried to focus on this year—really hone in on my design and editing skills for that. Because it’s super easy to make something for yourself, right? Because you can measure and do all of that. But grading it for other sizes… perfecting that art has been somewhat of a challenge.

Lee: 9:08
And we see that a lot. You know, as a tech editor for Happily Hooked Magazine, we see all kinds of patterns coming in. And the ones that are the most fascinating for me to edit are the ones that are available in multiple sizes, ranging from extra small to even up to 3X.

The design focus and the math that goes into these are so incredible to me. Pattern writers are amazing people. Their ability to design and to create things with just string is amazing. And to have it available in multiple sizes—that’s all the math behind that—is incredible.

Brittany: 9:52
Yeah, and it brings up another question. I’m going to be a little bit off-topic here, but it just popped in my mind. Do you think that it’s important for a designer to have both of those skills?

And I guess we could relate this to Amigurumi. Typically you’re either a creative or you’re a numbers person—and there are the few gems out there who are really good with both—but typically we have one strength or the other. Do you think that you have to be like that unique person to be a successful designer—have the numbers and have the creative side?

Lee: 10:24
If you have both of those capabilities as a designer, then that’s the golden ticket.

Say, for example, you are an incredible designer and you come up with these great ideas, but you have a hard time converting that into multiple sizes. There are people out there available to help you and programming to help you as well.

But there’s nothing like being able to take that design and mathematically create different size options and have it still fit your vision. It might not be as easy as just multiplying or adding a couple rows. It might be that for a size 3X, the length of the sleeves has to be adjusted in a different way.

It’s better if you have that mindset where you can create your vision and make it sound mathematically as well.

Brittany: 11:22
Yeah, I think there’s something to be said too about someone’s ability to learn something. I have always really considered myself a creative person, but I wanted to go down the path of healthcare. I actually wanted to go to med school back in my early years.

And I wanted to do that because I genuinely wanted to help people. We had some deaths in the family that really just inspired me to learn more about that type of disease. But my major hiccup was—I am not a numbers person.

So having to take some of the math courses that were required, some of the chemistry—which really does involve a lot of different types of higher-level understanding, really—I just refused to let myself think that I couldn’t do it. Because I really thought, and I still believe, that if somebody wants to learn something bad enough, it doesn’t matter if it’s something they’ve never tackled before. They probably just didn’t have the right teacher.

I think anybody can learn anything. So with the right teacher, I think anybody can learn how to grade their own patterns.

Lee: 12:32
Absolutely. And I wholeheartedly agree. There’s lots of resources out there in order to help designers learn how to tech edit properly.

And for things like Amigurumi, because you’re basically sculpting in the round with string, there’s a lot to be said for just making yourself aware of those resources and conforming to the standard crochet terms that are available.

If you can work within those parameters, then you’re going to be a successful designer.

Brittany: 13:06
Yeah. Yeah. And I love to bring it back to, to the amikirimi reference. Do you feel like there’s any difference between in writing a pattern for amigurumi than like say a garment or I mean there’s the obvious of the having in different sizes but are there any other ways that you think that pattern writing for amigurumi is different than any other type of project?

Lee: 13:30
I definitely think that the two are very different. Um, amigurumi, while it might be considered easier because the majority of Megurumi designs are done with just single crochet stitches, the fact that, like I said, you’re basically starting with an idea, which is a shape, and sculpting that shape one stitch at a time, you don’t have the ability to see what the end result is going to be while you’re creating the first set of stitches.

And you have to be able to mathematically calculate, change your focus in order to get that shape to work out with those single crochet stitches. And writing that is, you know, you have to make sure that somebody can replicate your process, so the easier you can write it the better, obviously. But sometimes I find that taking that process and converting it to a written pattern can seem a little bit daunting for people.

Brittany: 14:33
Yeah I can definitely relate to that. Right now I’m actually in the process of writing a pattern for a doll, and I have had this vision in my mind for at least three years now and I’ve just gotten to the point where I’m like, I have to do this. So I worked through starting with the legs because for me, I figured that would kind of dictate the size. So I knew what type of yarn I wanted to use and I had a hook in mind and I just played around until I got something that felt like a good size.

And then I added the body, added the arms. I saved the head for last. And I was thinking about the math of it because I wanted it to be… Now, my particular style in terms of amigurumi is like, it’s not 100% realistic. There is some character aspect to it, but I definitely tend to be more on the natural side or more realistic side than like a true character. I just don’t have the vision for that, I guess.

So I was thinking about the mathematics of it and I’m thinking, okay, well, my legs are this long. My body is about this long and that’s, you know, so much percent of my legs. And my arms come down to like the middle of my thigh when I lay them down my side. And I’m just using my own body as a reference.

And I got to thinking about the head and the mathematics behind it because I like to film as I go, because then I don’t have to create multiples and I can sort of get things done a little bit quicker. But I took this approach for the head using only the mathematics and what ended up happening is I wasn’t happy with the size of it. I actually used the same size—well, I increased to the same size that the body was, thinking that it would be pretty uniform, right? Like my head is not bigger than my body, so I thought it would work out. But when I got everything finished, it didn’t look the way I wanted to. The head did look too small.

So I ended up having to like scratch the whole thing, including the hour and a half of video that I took for that specific piece, and just had to rip out and start again. And I’m okay with that because I’m so much happier with the result.

Lee: 16:51
And that’s part of the process. And it goes back to what I was saying about how you’re basically sculpting with one stitch at a time and creating something that’s a 3D—you know, or sorry, not even 3D. It would be… it’s a, it’s a… You know, you’re actually creating a shape that you’re going to stuff. And so there’s a back to it, there’s a front to it, there’s a top, there’s a bottom. You can see it from all angles.

And the fact that you took into consideration body proportions when you’re designing your doll meant that you had a vision in mind. And it goes back to kind of, you know, being an artist in itself. If you’re going to have a design process, sometimes I recommend… maybe sketching it out.

Brittany: 17:38
Yeah.

Lee: 17:39
Because, you know, if you had it on a piece of paper, you might be able to see that, like you said, if you’re going to have your head proportion be, um, you know, comparable to the body, then if you have a sketch in front of you, as you’re getting up the torso and you’re getting towards the head, you can kind of counterbalance your stitch count based on your sketch.

Because you’re thinking, okay, like this needs to be a… Just taking some time, and even if it’s just a rough outline of what the shape is supposed to be, it’ll help you. It might save you a little bit of heartache as you’re going along.

Brittany: 18:19
Yeah. It was definitely a little bit deflating yesterday having spent so much time with the video. And I knew that I shouldn’t film until it was done. That’s typically—I don’t want to say I always film as I go, but for amigurumi, I always make the full sample first.

I was just on a roll and I was getting things done and I’m like, yes, I’m going to film it as I go. And it’s going to be perfect because I did the math. And that just totally proved to me that it’s not always right. Like the math might be correct. The proportions might be correct. But like you said, it didn’t fit with my vision.

So had I taken a little extra time, I probably could have saved myself some more time. One of the tips that I have for actually writing the pattern—typically what I will do is I use Evernote just because, depending on where I am, I pretty much always have access to that. I can get it on my computer or my phone.

I do a lot of my designing in like my comfy space. I don’t like to really do it at my desk. So I’ll go chill in my chair or prop up on my bed and just kind of let things happen. So I use Evernote and I kind of write the pattern in my own cryptic little language. It’s pretty much something that I understand, but if I were to publish that online, people would be like, what is she talking about?

So that helps to save me a little bit of time. So maybe if you do develop your own abbreviations or they’re not full sentences, like it’ll be “M-R- six SC”—well, I know what that means, but somebody else might not know that that means to make a magic ring with six single crochets.

Lee: 20:04
I had this conversation with a fellow designer not too long ago, and my design style—because I was an art student—is to just get into your creative space and make something and let the design kind of flow, right?

And sometimes for crochet designing, that doesn’t translate very well, especially because a lot of the times—and I’m trying to get better—but a lot of the times I find myself moving ahead of my actual writing down process. I just get so, you know, I get very involved in the design and I want to keep going and I want to see what’s going to happen. You know, I want to finish basically—I just want to complete it and have it done.

But I have to make sure that I’m leaving myself instructions so that somebody can replicate this process. And that’s part of my personal design struggle—taking what’s happening in my hands and putting it on paper. And I have to be, you know, ever vigilant and make sure that I’m writing notes.

And sometimes those notes, like you said, are in my own personal shorthand. And if you come back to it two days, three days, seven days later, it might not make as much sense as it did to you when you wrote it.

So, you know, it’s definitely—with crochet—you have to kind of slow down the process and take your time. And sometimes, you know, for a designer, that’s not ideal because we’re always—we always want to get things published. We want to get things filmed, like you, for example. Everybody’s in a rush to have that finished product and put it out there.

We’re always under pressure to create and to produce. And so it’s a little bit of a struggle sometimes, I think, for designers to slow down the process and take the time to make sure that it’s all correct.

Brittany: 22:09
Yeah. It’s an ongoing struggle, really. I mean, it’s something that I struggle with as well. There’s nothing worse than thinking you have all the instructions for a pattern, sitting down at your desk to type everything up, and realize that you missed a step.

So then that means you either need to go back to that piece and trust that you will be able to remember exactly what you did, or look at your stitches and see exactly what you did. But I mean, in all honesty, that may not be the best approach because you could make a mistake, and then that’s going to lead—that’s going to allow a lot of frustration for other people who are trying to follow your pattern later, or the tech editor who gets it and they’re like, what? What is going on here?

Lee: 22:51
I recently had a misstep with that exact situation. I work for Annie’s. Annie’s is a wonderful crochet and knit company. And in particular for this thing, I was working on their PBS show Knit and Crochet Now, and I was designing a shawl.

And I made this shawl. It was so beautiful. It had all kinds of different stitches in it. And, you know, we were flying out to film it in their studios. And I submitted my pattern, and the tech editor messaged me back, emailed me back. And I realized that I was so anxious to just hand it in and, you know, be on time and be prepared that all of my math skills just seemed to kind of evaporate because I felt so under pressure to impress, basically.

You know, like I just wanted to present them with this beautiful piece and they’re going to love it. And they did. It’s just—I gave the tech editor a headache. I gave her a run for her money. And I’m a tech editor myself, so it was very embarrassing. And it was kind of a humbling experience.

So that really does—it teaches you, definitely. And I hope that other designers don’t learn from, you know, making a huge mistake like that, but rather maybe just to slow down themselves. But if I had slowed down and just double checked my work—and, you know, we say it to our kids all the time, or, you know, if you have somebody that you’re trying to help, you know, like check your details, double check everything. And I just didn’t. I was too excited. So, yeah. It’s hard, right? It’s hard to be a designer sometimes. We get so excited about our—

Brittany: 24:44
It is. It is. But that’s a good tip to just remember to slow down and check the details because it usually is the excitement or a deadline that is pushing us out of our comfort zone to where we would sort of let our common sense evaporate. I like the way you put that.

And if we really just, like you said, slow down, try not to set a deadline for yourself—I know in the design world, deadlines are a thing and it just happens and we have to deal with that. But I think something that I’ve learned for myself is that I underestimate the amount of time that it takes me to make something, or I had done that in the past.

So what I have done again this year, kind of a goal, is to add a decent amount of time onto what I think a task or project will take. So that way I have a little bit of a buffer and I’m not so rushed in the long run.

Because amigurumi is, like you said, because you’re crafting it one stitch at a time, it’s not something that you can just throw together and expect that you’re going to have a quality project at the end of that. I mean, it could turn out completely wrong. And if you’re at the end of your deadline, you either have to turn it in as it is—a design that maybe you’re not happy with—or you have to have that uncomfortable conversation with your client or whoever that you can’t meet that deadline. So a little planning in the early phases, I think, goes a long way.

Lee: 26:15
I agree.

Brittany: 26:16
So we know that pattern writing is different. We’ve given some tips a little bit about how you can sort of keep track as you go. We know that it’s really the best practice to probably make the full thing first before you start. Well, I mean, you should write it down as you go, but really before you publish it, do any video or anything like that. So the next question is, where do you get inspiration from?

Lee: 26:46
That is a hard thing to discern. Um, and it’s, it’s basically a designer by designer basis. So, um, I recently interviewed, um, Carolina from One and Two Company and she takes inspiration from her children and they come up with designs as a family. And I found that to be such a great way to come up with original designs.

For myself, I also have children. So if I have some yarn, I’ll ask my daughter, what kind of animal should I make? And she’ll say a narwhal or something. And it’s always something kind of magical or whimsical and things like that.

And if you can kind of start with a basic idea and try to make it your own by, for example, drawing a sketch of it—even if you’re not a drawer, if you can’t draw stick figures—it doesn’t matter. As long as you have something on paper that can lead you in the direction you’re attempting to go with your crochet.

And sometimes looking at Pinterest boards—not other crochet necessarily, but maybe even just like children’s clothing or nursery items—things that you can glean inspiration from without stealing inspiration. And I think that’s a really good jumping off point for designing something that you’re going to be proud of and that you’ll be able to say is 100% your own.

Brittany: 28:31
Yeah. And I think it’s interesting, too, because amigurumi, you can really break it down into little subsets. For me, when I create amigurumi, I think about stuffed animals. I was one of those kids that loved stuffed animals. I had horses, teddy bears, like pretty much any kind of stuffed animal you could think of. They were all over my bed.

And so when I think of amigurumi, that’s what comes to mind. So naturally, the designs that I’ve made—I have a teddy bear, I have a big floppy bunny, I’m working on this doll now, I’ve got a lamb—and they’re all in relation to a stuffed animal. Kind of like brings me back to my childhood.

But there’s a whole other realm of amigurumi where it’s crocheting food. And for me, I think it’s so cool. I love how somebody can take that inspiration and turn it into something, like just kind of replicate that thing. But what I struggle with personally is a use for that.

So that kind of brings me back to my goal for this year—I really want to use the things that I make. And I just, I don’t have a use for something like that. So I guess finding out what you’re most drawn to probably sounds like the starting point for your inspiration.

Lee: 29:50
Right. And that goes back to, you know, for me personally, I have a 10-year-old and a six-year-old. And when I was making amigurumi in the past, it would always be, you know, what would they play with and what would they love?

And now I’m finding that they are less and less interested in my designs to play with and more just to keep as something to, you know, to cuddle with on their bed or, you know, just to have. And it evolves, and the design process evolves. And that’s what makes it your own.

So, for example, you probably wouldn’t design something with food. But for somebody that has a toddler with a play kitchen, then absolutely—they’d be designing cupcakes and cookies and things that their child could play with. And that’s what makes the crochet community so diverse and so amazing—because people are taking inspiration from what’s in front of them, and I think that’s really wonderful.

Brittany: 30:54
Yeah, and it makes each designer unique too. I think it’s really natural for us to want to feel competitive with one another because we’re kind of doing the same thing. We’re kind of offering the same service.

But when you look at us as individuals, you realize that one person—they may love something that I do, they may love scarves or something and they love a scarf pattern that I have. But they, like you said, they have a child who has a play kitchen. And so they’re going to seek out another designer.

And so I think as designers, we’re sort of just uplifting the entire community by working together to provide resources for all different people with different interests.

Lee: 31:37
Absolutely, there’s room for everybody’s voice. I always like to say that to fellow designers—there’s room for everybody’s voice and there’s room for everybody to enjoy their process and to enjoy their crochet.

Because, you know, even as a designer, I still enjoy working up other people’s designs. I love learning—it’s a continuing process. So, you know, I’m also a consumer as a crochet designer myself. And, you know, if everybody supports one another, I think that’s a great way to thrive.

Brittany: 32:13
Yeah, yeah, it really is. And a great way to—I mean, really the ultimate goal that we’re trying to do here is just to get more people to crochet, right? So when we all work together, that definitely can happen.

Lee: 32:27
Yeah.

Brittany: 32:27
You know, the other thing that comes to mind in terms of finding inspiration for amigurumi, keeping in mind the whole toy aspect of it—a lot of people get their inspiration from characters, like in movies or on TV.

And something that I have always tried to stay away from as a designer, pretty much because I’m uneducated, and I figure if I don’t know about something, I’m going to avoid any potential trouble and just not do that thing because I don’t want to get myself in trouble. Can you speak to recreating characters or drawing inspiration from a character that’s famous and that might have a copyright in place?

Lee: 33:09
Yeah, absolutely. When I first started crocheting, I was crocheting gifts for friends and family. So this was before I started working with Annie’s and before I started working with Happily Hooked magazine as a professional.

And I would basically just make what people asked me for. So if somebody asked me for, say, a character from a movie or a hat from a princess or any of those things that people want—basically, that they can’t find in a store—you know, and as a small independent crocheter, I didn’t think it was hurting anybody. People loved it, and I was just crocheting and happy to make those things.

But the more aware you are of the rules and intricacies of being a designer, the better off you’re going to be in the long run. Because for me in particular, there was a time where I wanted to be part of a blog hop, and I was denied entry because I had some copyright designs.

And things like that are gonna come up. It might not affect you now, but it could affect you in the future. And you never know. For example, you and I were talking about our friend that had a design and it was flagged for copyright infringement and she had to remove it. And that was from a big designer.

And, you know, just because you think that you’re small and it’s not affecting anything—you just… I always try to tell people, try to avoid setting yourself up for a headache later if you can. It’s just one of those things. There’s a right answer and a wrong answer. And for that particular thing, there’s definitely a wrong in it. And so it’s just best to stay away if you can.

Brittany: 35:18
Yeah, I think it seems like most of the protection there—or those who are exercising that right for that copyright—it has to do with business and making money. So I think for me, since that’s sort of my business model, I make designs and that sort of thing, so I am being compensated in some way or another for that thing. And that’s why I have completely stayed away from it.

Do you think that it’s okay to be inspired by a character and gift it to somebody?

Lee: 35:54
That would be… That’s the gray area. And it’s definitely not hurting anybody. And it’s like you said—if you’re going to infringe on the rights of somebody else, whether it’s an individual or a big company, then that’s the black and white answer. If you are infringing on the rights of somebody else, then the answer is no—stay away.

If you are not infringing on the rights of anybody else by crocheting a character and just giving it to somebody you know, then obviously it’s the gray area where you could, you know, if you feel okay with it, then absolutely go ahead and that person will enjoy it.

But then sometimes things will happen where they’ll take a photo and they’ll tag you in the photo and, you know, things like that. So you leave an imprint wherever you go.

That’s true. And so I don’t know if it’s worth it. I guess you have to decide for yourself if it’s worth it or not. And, you know, I have some designs still in my Ravelry shop that I would love to get rid of—if I ever figure out how to delete things from Ravelry.

You know, if you can avoid it, it’s best to avoid it is my best advice.

Brittany: 37:22
Yeah, and I would definitely echo that and add that if you feel– like if you have any doubt whatsoever, don’t do it because that’s your intuition and you should listen to it. And if you are at the point where you’re like, well, it’s probably okay, I would say get professional advice because like you said, you would never think about somebody taking a photo and tagging you somewhere online and I mean that is– That’s directly linking it to you. So you really just need to watch your back, you know?

Exactly. Yes. All right. With all of that heavy stuff out of the way, can you tell me about your first amigurumi pattern? The first thing that you did, was there any hard lessons you learned from amigurumi? Really like buckling— I assume you probably had done amigurumi before following other patterns but tell me about the time where you sat down to write your first pattern.

Lee: 38:23
So um, I had been designing my own amigurumi for years, just in a private sense, and I had never written down any of my patterns or published them in any way. I just used them for my own personal use.

And so when it came time to do my first professional submission for an amigurumi, it was for a summer issue of Happily Hooked magazine a few years back. And I decided that I wanted to design a mixtape. And this was before Guardians of the Galaxy where, you know, the 80s had come back and it was, you know, now it would be a great idea. But my first amigurumi was this great mixtape pillow. It’s definitely one of my favorite designs still.

Designing it was a trial, and having it submitted was a wonderful experience. My editor at the time, her name is Danielle Pink, she was very encouraging and the tech editing process went really well. So that was my first. And then I went on from there to design several amigurumi over the years. And they’ve all been just things that are near and dear to my heart. I try to be as original as I can, and I hope that shows through mine.

But it’s definitely great to be able to go back and see all of your patterns and see the journey that you go on and have those specific amigurumis kind of connect with a memory or a design process. That part for me is really fun as a designer.

Brittany: 40:11
It is. It’s so true. When you look back to some of your previous designs, if you’ve been designing for any amount of time, the first ones for me are kind of like the embarrassing ones because that was when I was really getting my feet under me.

I was always inclined to write out everything step by step in a way that made sense to me. So the way I wish a pattern were written, that’s kind of how I was writing it back then. And I’ve since gone through and updated everything so it’s in correct terms so that everybody can follow it.

Not everybody wants to read a paragraph, but not everybody wants to go back and forth between your pattern and a list of abbreviations. So finding that balance is a little bit of a struggle—or it’s a process, really. But it is cool how you can think back to those patterns, whether it be amigurumi or not, and you can sort of remember maybe the show that you were binging on Netflix at the time or a podcast that you were listening to, a book that you were listening to. And I love that. It’s so cool.

Lee: 41:22
Yeah, I completely agree. It’s almost like a memory capsule of things that you were into and super relating to at the time.

Brittany: 41:31
Yeah. So are there any things that you can think of that you wish you knew before you started publishing your amigurumi patterns?

Lee: 41:44
Things that I wish I knew beforehand… I would say that if you are designing amigurumi, just know that there probably isn’t anything that you’re going to come up with that has never been done before.

So if you can think of an animal that exists on the planet, I can guarantee you there is an amigurumi that already exists that has been designed by somebody else. So for example, if you’re designing a fox, or if you’re designing a deer, or if you’re designing—like I said, I designed a narwhal for my daughter—there will be other patterns that exist from other designers, and they may have been out for years.

It’s just important to remember that just because those things already exist doesn’t mean that you can’t put a new spin on it or that your design can’t be set alongside those as a different interpretation of that creature. It goes back to the idea that there’s room for everybody’s voice. As long as you are confident that this design is original to you and you’ve put your own take on it, then don’t be discouraged by the amount of designs that already exist in the world.

Because the same can be said for anything—shoes, everything. Just stick to your originality and your own design process, and don’t be afraid to share your voice.

Brittany: 43:27
Yeah, I think what I would add to that too is really like you were saying, if you seek inspiration on Pinterest or wherever, probably try to stay away from searching “crochet elephant” or whatever it is that you’re thinking about making.

Because once you have those images in your mind, that is crafting your vision at that point. And the only way to really avoid copying or doing something that’s very similar to someone else is just to not have that vision in your head.

So for me, I spent a lot of time on Pinterest when I was learning how to crochet—before I was a designer, before I had a website. I got a lot of inspiration from that. But as soon as I started publishing my own patterns, I pretty much stopped using Pinterest for crochet stuff.

Now, of course, I love it for other things, but I don’t like being influenced by things that I see because I don’t want to raise any questions. And so I think if you can avoid any potential inspiration from previously written patterns, that’s definitely the best practice.

And let’s say you do find a crochet elephant and you’re like, “Yes, that’s exactly what I want. It’s adorable.” Just use that pattern.

Lee: 44:51
Right. And I’m tiptoeing around that. To play devil’s advocate to that mindset—sometimes, just to be on the opposite side of that idea—sometimes it’s good to be aware of what already exists in order to kind of navigate your decision-making as a designer as well.

You know, it might be a good idea to check what is already on Ravelry under “crochet elephant,” just so that if you had an idea in your head and you’re dead set that you’re going to get started, if you see a picture come up from a designer that already has that design idea in place, maybe you’re gonna have to go back to the drawing board.

So yeah, being aware of what’s out there and kind of having just a general idea might save you some time and some trouble in the end—just in those circumstances where your idea might be original to you, but maybe you saw it a few years back and you forgot.

So just being aware of what’s already out there might save you a little bit of heartache in the end. I think if you were to combine those two ideas together—if you’re looking for design inspiration from scratch, then definitely stay away from gleaning your design inspiration from crochet on, for example, Pinterest and Instagram and things like that. But if you have a design and you’re ready to get going, maybe double check that it doesn’t already exist.

Brittany: 46:28
Yeah. And I think this is really relatable to designers too, probably more so than somebody—there are people out there who have no interest in publishing their designs, but they like to just create their own patterns.

Maybe they don’t like to follow a pattern or they don’t know how to follow a pattern and they’re just making it for themselves or for a friend or family member. I think in those cases, it’s a free-for-all, really. I mean, whatever you’re inspired by is probably the direction that you should go.

But if you are going to publish or submit a design somewhere, I think these are definitely things to consider. Like you said, what’s already out there. What I suggested—maybe shutting out the opportunity to be inspired by something that’s already there. When, inadvertently, you know, I mean, nobody’s out there to infringe on somebody on purpose. But like I said, once you see that inspiration, it’s kind of hard to erase it.

Lee: 47:26
Yes, definitely. All right. And it’s funny because things like that come back in different social media platforms, whether it be Pinterest—you might see it again in a year on Instagram or on Facebook. It might come up in a video feed. So definitely good to be aware.

Brittany: 47:44
Yeah, for sure. So we’ve covered a lot of ground here. The last thing I’m interested in getting from you is sort of like an action plan—maybe a step-by-step that somebody can follow if they’ve never written an amigurumi pattern before.

What are some of just the basic steps that they should follow so that way they can avoid some potential hiccups or save some time in the long run?

Lee: 48:10
I would probably answer that as a tech editor, just because a lot of my job consists of correcting the errors that come across in patterns from designers. And if I could give advice in order to avoid those errors for people ahead of time, I would say:

Make yourself aware of the design structure of established designers. It could be from a book or it could be from a magazine or it could be from the standard crochet stitches that you can look up online. Make yourself aware of the language of the craft before you begin writing a pattern.

Because, you know, obviously if you’re designing, you want somebody to be able to replicate that process. And crochet is a language. So you have to design and write in that language and have it be fluent. So that would be my first tip—find a template, an established tech-edited template that you are drawn to and that you enjoy. Try to learn the rules, try to discern the language and the codes, and use those as tools as your guide.

And then from there, I would definitely recommend having somebody test your design before publishing it in any forum—whether it be on your blog, even for free, or in your Ravelry shop, or for a publication such as a magazine or a book or anything like that. Have somebody else just give it a go that is well-versed in crochet themselves so that they can pick up things that you might not see.

Even established designers like myself—and, you know, for you, for example, Brittany—we still make mistakes. Things happen. And like I said with that shawl, I was just so excited about it. And a tech editor—I sent her a gift card after—but you just have to have another set of eyes on it just to make sure that it is sound mathematically, grammatically, and structurally.

And that would be my best advice for anybody that’s looking to design amigurumi—those two things.

Brittany: 50:48
You mentioned a template, like a tech-edited template. Can somebody find access to that online? Or is that maybe when they’re working with a particular publication that they would have access to that?

Lee: 51:00
So there are different resources online, all over—whether they’re for purchase or they’re for free. If you’re interested in designing, go to your local library and check out a few crochet books and just take a look at the templates that they use in their publications.

Spend a few days just flipping through the pages and seeing if they’re bolding words, what punctuation they use, the terms they use, the way they structure their introduction, their stitch notes—basically everything. Just choose a template that you enjoy, that you find easy to read, and go from there.

There’s also free resources online. I believe it’s the Crochet Guild of America that has the crochet terms for free that you can check. Just make sure you’re equipping yourself with as much information as you can before you design.

Brittany: 52:09
Yeah. And the Craft Yarn Council too—they have a few pages on their website that are dedicated to abbreviations, diagram symbols, and some of the yarn weight terminology, that sort of thing. I learned a lot from that website when I was in my early years of designing.

But I mean, really, it’s been just a process. The more I designed, the more I followed other patterns, and the more I crocheted, I kind of just got the feel for how things should be laid out—what made sense in terms of, well, you should start on this part first because you’ll build on it later. So, I mean, those sorts of things just come from experience. Right. And it’s definitely—

Lee: 53:05
—great to continue your learning process by taking some time to maybe make something from another designer that you admire, just to keep your skills fresh. Continuing your education in anything is great. And in crochet, there’s always more to learn.

Brittany: 53:25
Yeah, for sure. And I love how your other tip was encouraging other people to test your pattern. Because, I mean, we do make mistakes. Think of how many times we maybe reread an email before we hit send and we realize that we typed a completely wrong word—or a different version of a word that maybe sounds like another one.

And we just do it because we’re in the moment—we’re just letting the thoughts spill from our mind. Designing is really the same way. We’re kind of just letting the stitches flow and writing as we go. We’re multitasking, and that sets up room for mistakes.

Even though we might know that we did it one way but wrote it another, we may not catch that when we’re doing our own editing because we’re just so deep into the design. Somebody else might catch it right away and say, “Oh, I think you actually meant to say half double crochet instead of double crochet,” or something like that.

Lee: 54:21
And that’s something that we see a lot in tech editing. For example, there was a design that I was editing just this week where the designer is an established designer—she’s wonderful. I didn’t find anything but one mistake, where she was working in the round with sets of eight.

And between each set of eight pattern repeats, there was a chain three, and she just missed one. She just missed the chain three to connect one of the sets. And she probably just never even noticed. But it’s just important to get another set of eyes on things, because if somebody is making that pattern, they’re going to miss that chain three, and that’s going to snowball into a bigger problem as the design grows.

Brittany: 55:06
Yeah, and I think reaching out to your network too is probably a good place to find somebody to pattern test. I know there’s always people posting on Instagram that they are in need of pattern testers, so that’s one place you could go.

Even if you have friends or family members who, like you said, are well-versed in crochet and familiar with pattern reading—they can help you out with that sort of thing. Are there any other resources that maybe you know of where people can find a pattern tester?

Lee: 55:34
There’s all kinds of different Facebook groups. If you just type “pattern testers” in your search bar, you’ll be able to find some of them. But again, like you said, Brittany, your network of friends and fellow designers is a great resource.

I always like to say it’s great to make friends in our community just so that we can support each other and help with things like that. So you may not know of a pattern tester, but a designer friend might have several and be able to give you a name of somebody that would be happy to test for you. It’s great to always be a member of the community wherever possible.

Brittany: 56:14
Yeah, I definitely agree. Well, this has been such an insightful conversation. Thank you so much for not only sharing your wisdom about amigurumi and kind of opening up the doors to those gray area topics that not a lot of people really like to cover. So I definitely appreciate your openness with all of that.

I want to give people a chance to connect with you too. Where would you send them?

Lee: 56:38
So my favorite platform, being a social media platform person, is Instagram. You can find me at @CocoCrochetLee. It’s the same for Facebook—I’m under Coco Crochet Lee. Coco is actually a nickname that we gave to my son when he was a baby, and obviously crochet, and then Lee is myself. So that’s where the name comes from.

Those are the two best places to find me. And then, you know, I work behind the scenes—not as myself—mostly for Annie’s, for the Creative Studio, for their PBS show and their Facebook pages, as well as Happily Hooked magazine and a few other jobs here and there behind the scenes. But the best place to see me as a designer is my Instagram page.

Brittany: 57:30
Very cool. Thank you. Thank you so much, Lee. It’s been a pleasure connecting with you and listening to all your wisdom here. Thank you.

Lee: 57:38
Thank you so much for having me.

Brittany: 57:41
It was a pleasure. And to you, my listener, for tuning in week after week—you really fuel my motivation to keep going, to find new incredible people your way so that you can learn some things that maybe you wouldn’t have had the opportunity to learn otherwise. It’s so much fun. I love this channel, I love podcasting, and I know you love it too.

If you are a long-term listener to this show and you’d have a free moment, if you left an honest rating and/or review in iTunes, in Stitcher—whatever podcast player you listen to—that will greatly help the show. I go in and look at those, read those reviews all the time. I’m constantly trying to evolve to create a show that you want to listen to.

Doing something as simple as that for just a couple of moments can really help the show, can really help me. So I appreciate that if you have a moment to do so.

And please don’t forget about that review video that’s coming this Sunday, June 10th. You’ll find that once again on my YouTube channel for Annie’s Hook and Needle Club. This is another one of those really great services—those monthly subscription services—that’s a little bit different than the traditional subscription service model.

Typically, a subscription box will have a themed project for that month and everybody gets the same kit. Well, Annie’s works a little bit differently. The Hook and Needle Club—everybody gets a surprise. These patterns and projects have already been pre-made, pre-determined, they’ve been pattern tested through the talented people at Annie’s. And you never know which one you’re going to get, which is really cool.

That’s one of the biggest benefits to me—always having that surprise, in addition to having a project that I can deem as really just for me. That I don’t have to have the pressures of designing. I don’t have to have the pressure of writing everything down. I can really just take that subscription, that project for that month, and call that my hobby project—my passion project—for that month.

So that’s what Annie’s has done for me. I would love for you to be able to have that as well. And you can sign up for your subscription today at annieskitclubs.com/bhooked.

If you decide that the service isn’t right for you, you can always cancel within 21 days of receiving that first kit. If you decide, “I don’t really like this,” then you don’t owe anything. So that’s cool. They have a 100% guarantee on their service, and that’s something I can get behind.

So once again, if you want to have a project that is just for you—as a way to get back to the therapeutic benefits of our craft—head over to annieskitclubs.com/bhooked.

And as always, if you head over to the show notes page, you can find the resources that Lee and I talked about. Also, if you have any questions about what we covered in our interview—or questions on this kit club, the Hook and Needle Club from Annie’s—you can direct those to the show notes page.

That, once again, is BHookedCrochet.com/session067. I look forward to chatting with you a little bit more there, and I look forward to another episode next week.

We have a brand new guest—somebody who I have known about for so many years, really before I started going full-time with this. I remember looking at her and thinking, “Man, this is one really creative woman.” I get to interview her next week, and I’m so excited for you to hear our chat. I’ll see you then, guys. Have a wonderful weekend. Bye-bye.