The absolute travesty that is AI crochet, why it makes me so angry and some reputable sites for patterns
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AI crochet is everywhere and it really makes me angry!
If you follow Sum of their Stories on Facebook you will know I have moaned about this a few times. I keep hoping things will turn a corner and improve but it only seems to be getting worse.
I am aware that this is happening in the worlds of knitting, embroidery, woodwork, pottery and I’m sure many more areas too. I’m just focusing on crochet today because that’s what my social media feeds have been exposing me too the most.
Why Fake Ai crochet patterns make me so angry
Remember the “good old days” when AI crochet images were elderly ladies on yarn bombed motorbikes or granny sittin on a sofa next to a giant yarn tiger? It’s getting harder to spot and to sort the wood from the sleaze!
Three times now in recent weeks I’ve been approached by friends, friends who already know how to crochet, because they are stuck with a pattern and want some help. Each of them was attempting a fairly simple pattern which should have been well within their capabilities and experience.
Turns out the issue wasn’t them, it was the “pattern”. AI sloppy nonsense. Charts that don’t match the images. “Instructions”, and I use that word lightly, that are wildly insufficient. Step by step images that jump around and don’t make any sense at all.
What makes me so angry is that each of these friends was left feeling that they must be the ones making the mistakes, that their crochet skills were at fault, it knocked their confidence. Getting stuck on what should be an enjoyable make. These AI slop patterns are sucking the fun out of crafting for my friends and that makes me SO cross.
Let’s talk about how to spot the AI fake crochet patterns and then I’ll list some of my favourite real and recommended pattern designers and sites that you can trust to be the real deal.
How to spot fake AI crochet patterns
First up, these godawful social media “patterns”.
Some pages do label posts as AI content now. You can find that right at the top just underneath the page name on Facebook posts:
This can help but remember, if that label is not there it doesn’t mean the content is not AI, just that it hasn’t been labeled as such yet.
These kind of patterns are fairly easy to spot once you are familiar with the format. They almost all look the same. Bright images, everything is too perfect and even stitches. Items that are stiff, blocked to perfection and unnaturally perfect. They also tend to have boxes with wildly insufficient instructions.
The tools in the “photos” are sometimes weird. Crochet hooks that aren’t hooks is a popular one, scissors that aren’t proper scissors are a giveaway too.
Then there are the image posts where you comment or click through for the pattern. Please don’t comment or click through. I actually don’t know what site you’ll be taken too but I’m pretty confident it won’t be wholesome crochet content.
See how perfect everything looks in these images above, very uncanny valley!
The sites that share this sort of thing, especially on facebook, tend to have 10s or even 100s of thousands of followers but very little engagement, comments on post are all “awesome”, “beautiful” and “good job” graphics from bot accounts and a handful of real people who mistakenly believe they will get a link to the pattern if they comment “pattern”.
There are even videos appearing now although these are easier to spot because the hook movement is quite frankly ridiculous and often finish crochet motif spill out of the hook as if it’s a magic wand.
How to spot fake Crochet Patterns for sale
TL Yarn Crafts has written a fabulous article and You tube video giving lots of information about how to spot fake AI crochet patterns for sale, following her experience of having her pattern stolen. You can read that here: Fake Crochet Patterns are Fooling Makers.
Cilla Crochets has also written a great article with advice to help you spot fakes, especially on Etsy which is worth a read. Find that here: How to spot Ai crochet patterns and scammers on Etsy.
Ella Rose Crochet has also written in detail about how to spot if a crochet pattern is fake: How to spot fake (AI) crochet so you don’t get scammed
Where to go for quality real crochet patterns
There are tons of great crochet designers out there who are tearing their hair out at all this fake AI pattern nonsense. They’ve spent years of hard work writing fabulous patterns and creating neatly made versions of their designs. They’ve put time and effort into product photography to make beautiful images, and now we are saying if it looks too good and too perfect, you need to be suspicious - that it’s too good to be true. How frustrating.
This is by no means an exhaustive list but these are some of the sites online that I’ve obtained genuine crochet patterns from myself in the past.
Bella Coco (my personal favourite place for you tube tutorials to learn new stitches)
Over the years I’ve shared a few round ups with links to online patterns and these are all links to real patterns made by real people.
Crochet magazines are a good place to find real patterns.
Lots of people recommend and use Ravelry for their crochet patterns and most there still seem to be genuine. The good thing about Ravelry is that patterns are reviewed so you can stick to ones with lots of good reviews and feedback.
I’m adding crochet pattern books to this list but with a caveat. Printed crochet pattern books can also be reliable and trustworthy. Books from established publishers, older books that you can maybe borrow from the library etc are reliable. However there are a whole load of books out there that are just as full of AI patterns as the internet so don’t believe that just because something is in print that it must be real.
I once picked up a very inexpensive knitting book from a charity shop and it soon became clear that none of the patterns had been properly graded for size, so even with in print books you do need to be a little careful.
My all time favourite book of crochet flowers is this (affiliate link) Crochet Collage Garden by Chris Norrington, it’s fabulous.
The (affiliate link) Stitch N Bitch Happy Hooker book is also excellent, it’s the one I used to learn to crochet MANY years ago.
If you have any recommendations of places you’ve sourced patterns that you love please do share in the comments below.
Remember if you are caught out by a fake crochet pattern, whether you just waste money with it or just time, please know you are not alone.
If you are tricked please please please don’t let it put you off your crochet journey.
Julie
