August 2026 – The Life of a Worn-Out Crochet Designer
Life at Auburncraft Design headquarters is hectic, was hectic and is always hectic!
One design is ready to launch, if Stella and I can find the time to do all the things necessary to actually launch it.
Things like formatting the webpage for the design, getting the Ravelry page sorted, and letting the pattern testers out of the pattern test basement and allowing them to go home.
You know, that sort of thing.
This new design is rather spectacular, and the testers have done an amazingly good job with it. They may have even taken it to the next level with their colour choices.
I decided they had done such a fantastic job that I will be adding a separate sheet to the download with their colour suggestions.
The Vagabond Tote CAL
In other news, I (well, with Stella’s insistence) decided to run a small CAL.
This is going to focus on my Vagabond Tote pattern, which is a great project for using up leftover yarn.
It starts on the 24th of August Australian time and will run for four weeks.
Fingers crossed this goes well!
The AI Problem
I am trying to grow some further interest in my designs and increase my following, and perhaps this also has something to do with the ever-growing issue of AI scams.
I am not an AI hater.
I think it has its uses and can be a very useful tool. But using it to trick people into believing things are real, or into purchasing patterns for designs that are not actually possible to make, is another thing entirely.
That I am very much against.
COMING SOON
It is so disheartening to see the number of people having to ask, “Is this real?” or saying that they purchased a pattern only to discover that the design doesn't actually work.
Etsy are really not helping the situation, as they are providing a platform for these scammers to sell from. This then has a domino effect, with customers feeling that they can no longer trust purchasing patterns from there.
Ravelry have implemented a NO AI photograph policy for designers uploading pictures and will either remove the picture or refuse it if it is found to be AI-generated.
I think this still has its little problems, though.
I co-run a crochet designer support group on Facebook with the lovely Fiona from Flo’s Crafty Crochet, and several of the designer members have said they have had photographs refused that have come straight from their cameras.
So, this is yet another hurdle designers have to contend with.
Personally, I tend to use Canva when formatting a picture for a promotion, and I have been trying to be more conscious of the fact that sometimes, in this new world we are entering, an imperfection in a photograph is okay — and maybe even a good thing.
Perhaps we need to start appreciating the fact that real photographs aren't always perfect.
What Else Have We Been Doing?
A new design is nearing the end of the design process.
I did spend much of yesterday frogging the border because I decided to go in another direction.
Yep. That is what hooman designers do.
We spend hours upon hours working out if a design works, whether it looks good, whether the stitches behave themselves and whether the border we have just spent hours making needs to be ripped back and done completely differently.
We frog things.
We change our minds.
We occasionally stare at something for several hours wondering what the hell we were thinking.
And sometimes we end up right back where we started.
But that is the process of creating something from scratch — and there is usually a slightly worn out hooman sitting behind the crochet hook.
The Pattern Test Basement
The Legend of Bellflower Hollow is still torturing the testers in the pattern test basement with the 40 flowers contained within it.
Which reminds me...
I must ask Stella to go and check on them, as they have been rather quiet of late.
That probably isn't a good sign.
The Queue
I have about a dozen designs awaiting their chance in the queue to be NEXT to come to life.
And I have been resisting the urge to purchase five balls of merino from Morris & Sons for a wrap-around shawl I want to create.
I know I will eventually lose the fight with myself on that one.
But Stella and I do have other things to do.
We don't technically need it.
OR DO WE?
I am hoping Stella will eventually approve the purchase of the five balls of merino.
I mean, someone has to make the important business decisions around here, and be the voice of reason. Mind you she can be slightly tyrannical. Sshh, don’t tell her I said so.
What's Coming?
But for now, keep your eyes open for a new design launching hopefully in the next week, and of course for the Vagabond Tote CAL starting on the 24th of August.
And finally...
Support Real Designers
If a design looks too good to be true, take a moment to check that it isn't AI-generated before handing over your money.
There are real designers behind those real patterns — designers who spend weeks, months and sometimes hundreds of hours creating, testing, frogging, rewriting and testing again to make sure the thing you are buying can actually be made.
There is a real hooman behind the hook.
And sometimes that hooman is just trying to get permission from the CEO to buy five balls of merino.
THE LEGEND OF BELLFLOWER HALLOW DESIGN COMING SOON
