Want to create your own crochet patterns? Follow these 5 steps

So you've been crocheting for a while now, and you've had just about enough of following someone else's patterns ... but how on earth do you go about creating your own?
Follow our guide and you'll soon be modifying, building and writing your own crochet projects.
1. Learn the language
As you will have seen from your days following other people's patterns, crochet designs are written out in very specific ways, using certain abbreviations. If you like to work from charts, you'll know that each stitch is also drawn in a specific way. Although you won't have to know all these short forms by heart, you will need to have a list you can refer to so that you are using standard terms that everyone can follow.
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2. Learn from an existing well-known pattern
At this point, it will help you to try and decode and write down a familiar pattern - say a granny square for a blanket, for example. Take a square and work out exactly the stitches used and their order, noting them down using your abbreviations or diagrams. Then when you've finished, make the square yourself using only your own instructions. Was anything left out? Did you explain everything clearly?
3. Variations on a theme
Launching into a complex project straight away might be a bit too daunting, so start your imagination working gently by coming up with variations on a theme you like. If you often crochet squares or hexagons, try and think up a new twist or small original touch to add to a basic pattern. Or choose (or invent) your own edging style instead of simply following the instructions.
4. Make modifications
If, in the past, you've made a cardigan exactly to pattern, while thinking it would look better with patch pockets added or with shorter sleeves, then now's your chance to tailor things exactly to your own requirements. Adapt the pattern, write it your way - and again, make sure it works by making the project using your own instructions.
5. Let your imagination free
Now that you have the skills you need to write your own patterns, here's your chance to create the blanket you were always searching for, but never found. There are plenty of resources out there to help you, including lots of courses for crochet designers online, as well as software that can help you write patterns.
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