image by felix
Being of an older age, I feel I have learnt to move with the times. My era began with the old black-and-white TV, the landline telephone and the joy of not being contactable the minute you stepped outside.
2026 is a different kind of beast from those days. But who wants to hear someone ramble on about the good old days?
Well, I can tell you, not all were good.
But at least if you created something with your brain and bare hands, the only way it could be stolen was if someone physically broke into your property and took it.
Now you can have your whole life’s work stolen from you by someone in a far-off country at the blink of an eye.
Then they introduced the elephant into the room.
The enormous one called AI.
This is the modern world and you are damned if you use it, with many people taking the stand of “Do not use it at all costs!”, and damned if you don’t.
As for Auburncraft Crochet Design, my patterns have always come from my own head, my own hands and many, many hours of work. I don't use AI to write my patterns, and I never will.
It’s never a good idea to stay stuck in the past. But using AI in the correct manner is what I want to bring up.
For me, using AI in the correct manner means using it as a tool, not as a replacement for the person doing the creative work. It can be useful for helping with ideas, checking wording, researching something or doing some of the more mundane jobs that take up time.
And yes, I am perfectly happy to admit that AI can be useful.
The problem comes when AI is used to create something that is then passed off as the real thing, with people being asked to hand over their hard-earned money for a pattern that may never have been properly designed, crocheted or tested.
AI is destroying the livelihoods and reputations of people like crochet designers. Those who are less than savoury have discovered they can rip people off by getting AI to write crochet patterns and generate pictures of the supposed item the pattern will make.
The fallout from this is huge.
I have watched this become a real problem in the crochet world, with people buying patterns that simply don't work.
Of course they don't work.
AI may look pretty in pictures, if you can look past the extra trunk on the elephant, but it cannot replace the endless hours spent designing and writing crochet patterns by a hooman bean.
And the damage doesn't stop with the person who has been scammed.
It starts to make people nervous about buying crochet patterns altogether.
When you see enough stories about people losing their money on patterns that don't work, it's hardly surprising that some crocheters start thinking twice before clicking that Buy button on Etsy.
And that hurts the genuine designers who have spent weeks, months and sometimes hundreds of hours creating something that actually works.
The issue has now become so prevalent that it is badly affecting the income of real designers as people are afraid to purchase patterns, especially from Etsy.
Talk of going back to magazines is constant.
This is kind of like deciding to make your butter the old-fashioned way. It may fix the situation and may well be nice, but it puts all the butter manufacturers out of business.
Platforms such as Ravelry are attempting to limit some of the fallout from this by using measures to identify and prevent AI-generated images from being uploaded, and this is making their selling platform somewhat safer.
But Etsy?
Well, let's just say they have totally lost the plot.
Every day now I have to read posts where people have bought a crochet pattern and it does not work.
If we, as designers, contact Etsy, it is like trying to have a discussion with a therapist.
They simply pull out the script of psychobabble and policies until you wear down and decide you could be better off talking to the neighbour's cat about the issue.
Does this mean we should stop trying?
NO!
It means more of us need to keep at them.
United we stand, kind of thing.
All Auburncraft Crochet Design patterns are from the mind of a hooman, designed by a hooman, with anywhere up to 200-plus hours spent on each item.
Photographs, pattern testing, crocheting, checking, rewriting, more checking... you name it. All of those things go into turning an idea into a workable piece that the purchaser is actually assured of being able to create.
I first wrote about this issue back in 2025, and you can read How to Spot an AI-Generated Crochet Pattern here.
But what else can you do?
Be vigilant.
Do background checks.
What do I mean by this?
Well, I don't mean hire a detective to follow designers around and photograph them actually designing, but check for reviews. Many reviews, and not just a few recent ones.
See what sort of footprint they have as designers online.
Look carefully at the photographs.
Check for those who have pattern testers.
Message the seller with a question only a true crocheter would know prior to purchase.
Report any scam or suspected AI-generated patterns to Etsy.
And very importantly, support the real designers.
Don't walk away.
Leave them reviews that draw attention to their design abilities and the quality of their patterns.
AI has its place and is a useful tool, much like the old typewriter.
But it cannot replace the ability to design, create and produce the finished crochet item.
And unless the world wants all the creative pattern designers to walk away and leave the design business behind, something needs to be done.
Because if we keep allowing poorly made AI patterns to flood the market and drive genuine designers away, eventually you really will be left with very few people designing the patterns.
And then you can all look forward to wearing jumpers with three arms.
Etsy needs to wake up and clean house.
