Coo coo ka-choo, how do you do?
Hello, hello! It's another Monday. Sorry for the late post. All of today I was planning to write something, but never following through on what I wanted to say! I really don't have anything important to update with this week, I've just been doing the standard everyday work. I have not finished that poncho and no, it's totally not because my yarn tangled after undoing it one too many times!
Recently, I was looking through my overcrowded YouTube subscription page. Every now and then I'll search crochet patterns on YouTube and subscribe to the various faceless channels that pop up. I know they all are probably just content farms, as they all claim to be unbelievably fantastic, but it's fun to see all the different stitches and motifs. Despite the endless amount of daily videos, I don't think I've ever completed an item using video patterns.
Back when I first started crocheting, I planned to use it for cosplay since a sewing machine was too bulky and stationary for the space I had. Sure it was a little unconventional, but if it'd been done before, I'd bet I could do it myself! (Life tip: Do not attempt a difficult pattern when you have just started crocheting a couple months prior. Especially a fitted wearable.) At the time, I was aiming to be Order of the Banana Soraka, since I main her and her satyr-like legs were obscured. I'd already picked up a ton of realistic fake fruit at the Michaels and picked out just the halter top pattern with the right amount of modesty to satisfy my mom. Upon finishing the top, I wasn't content with finishing that costume, no. I set my sights higher and ever since then, I've been coasting on dreams thinking of how to humanize a Carnival themed bird without ending up in an exposing accurate Carnival outfit. I'm still brainstorming nearly five years later so no sniping my idea! I'm staying vague!
Despite starting with a variety of video patterns, mostly halter tops (which was perfect until my cat snagged her claws in it) and pineapple motifs, I've gotten very comfortable with written patterns. The beautiful dress I made that hopelessly fell apart due to my lack of experience was the first pattern I'd ever purchased! Since then, I've purchased an embarrassing amount of patterns that were way over my skill level. Seeing a gorgeous looking blanket or accurate plush pattern and immediately buying it is definitely a weak point of mine! I get nervous! They, an infinitely reproducible digital PDF, go "out of stock" at a moment's notice! Then again, an infinitely viewable video can be removed from YouTube with no warning too. I think I just feel safer with a copy on my own personal devices than hoping the pattern doesn't disappear unexpectedly.
Written patterns also easily allow you to see where you've gone wrong if you end up with the wrong amount of stitches! Other than a couple I've seen where the count doesn't line up, it's very comforting when you end on the stitch expected. Video patterns, to me, tend to be a little more vague when the end of a round comes up on particularly long patterns. Sometimes, the video maker says to do something only to backtrack at the end of the row! I've been burned a handful of times by that and the only workaround is to watch a possibly hour long video multiple times through and note when that happens. I've tried to teach someone else to crochet, so I know it's tough to know to do something and also be good at teaching a beginner.
I also feel like written patterns go through a little more refining than an off the cuff video pattern. I've never written a pattern, so I'm just assuming a lot of things with no proof, but I know that most well made patterns (hopefully) get testers who can give feedback. If something doesn't make sense, the maker can rewrite what they mean before "the public" gets to it. Meanwhile, a video pattern maker can make an object, understand themselves how they did it, and not clarify how they got there when strangers go to recreate it. I've seen a few very cute looking items only to go the comments and find multiple other people, or even the uploader, rewriting whole sections of the pattern! Sometimes these are videos from years ago! Even messed up written patterns can give updated versions, why not re-record!?
Regardless, thank you very very much to any crochet pattern maker that leaves their items up for free! I don't think I'd ever learned to crochet without both video and written examples of stitches, techniques, and "secrets"! If I ever get stuck reading another jumble of yarn overs and pull throughs, I know that video patterns can just do the thing and I can understand from there. The puff stitch, used in the Dewdrop Hat and Cowl, was impossible to me until seeing it in video form. I failed that dress because I refused to properly attempt a new stitch (triple crochet) into a new technique (magic circle)! I'm sure a bunch of the gripes I have with video patterns are not as bad as I remember them being, I was just really impatient and trying to be perfect at something new! I just don't think the format works with my "do first, recount later" approach to crochet.