How to Keep Track of Your Crochet Design Project

Ever wanted to create your own crochet design and wondered how to keep it all together? What details do you need to keep track of for your crochet design project? How to have all the information in one place so that later on you can reproduce the designed piece with ease or give the pattern to someone to make?

I’ve designed over two dozen patterns and counting and after dealing with my share of scraps of paper and notes on my phone, my laptop, in a random notebook, and having to re-write a couple of patterns from scratch, I realized that they had to be a better way.

So, I’ve created a Pattern Design Notes tracker. It’s a printable tracker that has a place for everything your pattern needs. After working through several versions of it in my design notebook, I got down to all the pieces that I end up needing in the patterns I designed.

Pattern Design Notes is the worksheet that is at the heart of every one of my patterns. It has space for everything you need to note down as you create your crochet pieces.

These are the parts you can track when designing a pattern

• Pattern name
  • The first order of things is a pretty name for your pretty project! Since my patterns are beach-inspired, I try to incorporate the names of the beach towns I love, things I associate with the beach, ocean and water, and other such things. Your pattern names can be inspired by what pulls at the strings of your heart – the world is your oyster!

• Hook info
  • Next is the information for the hook you used. Of course, the size/letter/mm of the hook is the most important thing to note since later you or another maker will need to know this to be able to recreate the stitches of the correct height. However, do keep in mind that different manufacturers’ hook of the same size does vary slightly, so you might want to note the brand and the name of the hook used as well.
  • Things to note:
    • Brand
    • Name
    • Size

• Yarn info
  • Yarn information is of course super important, after all, that what makes up your crochet project! We are blessed these days with the variety of yarns out there: with so many gorgeous colors, kinds of fiber, weights, and textures. Often, the yarn truly makes the design. And even if someone wants to use a different yarn to make your patterns, it’s so useful to note what yarn you used as it can really make all the difference in how the project feels, drapes, and comes out.
  • Things to note:
    • Brand
    • Name
    • Weight/Fiber content
    • Color(s)
    • Number of skeins/yards needed to complete the projects

• Stitches used
  • Next comes the juicy part – what were the stitches used in the pattern. Those are the oh so important building blocks of your creation. Even though there is a finite number of basic stitches, you can create such a variety of patterns with them! Note all the stitches you used, even things like chains (CH), back or front loop only (BLO or FLO), repeats (**) and so on

• Design notes
  • I love this part – this is your creative space! It’s made out of graph paper and so it’s perfect for you to sketch your overall design here or make calculations, plan out your C2C blanket, count your stitches and rows or draw out the individual stitch sequences. You can also use it to attach the swatch you made for the project, paper label from the yarn or the photo of the finished piece

• Swatch
  • This is the space to write down the size of the swatch and the number of rows and columns for it. As much as swatching can be a pain the butt sometimes, it’s a small crochet sample that can save you a ton of time by avoiding miscalculations

• Size
  • Once your project is all done, you can write down the finished size of your creation

This all might seem like a lot of information, but remember – you will be collecting it over time, as you progress with your project.

Just note down the important things as you go, and before you notice – you will have it all in one place, ready for you to write up the official pattern to have in your collection, gift it to a friend or sell it in your shop.

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