A Road Less Travelled

I’ve always been inclined to design my own craft projects. I mean, why follow a pattern when I can just grab some yarn and make it up as I go along? (Intriguingly, this makes me the exact opposite of Theresa who flies by the seat of her pants at most things but plans craft projects meticulously, while I require a plan to function in most of life and prefer to make up on the fly when it comes to crafts.)

Lately, though, I’ve been following patterns. I saw patterns that I particularly liked, and knew I couldn’t duplicate them on my own without an extraordinary amount of effort. So I said, “Hey, I’ll just use this pattern.” and went with it. Here’s the weird part: I’ve really enjoyed following along as someone cleverer explains how it’s done.

At first I was concerned that I was losing my touch. Then I realized that I probably appreciate it so much because I am a designer. For the same reason a musician hears more in beautiful music, a writer savors that perfect flow of words, a game designer likes the ‘crunchy bits’ in others’ games, or a photographer notes excellent composition in a picture, a designer of patterns appreciates a cleverly placed set of decreases.

Which might just mean I’m a designer. And I always thought I just crocheted stuff.