Making Mistakes is part of the Journey!

Here’s a little behind the scenes post - or if you prefer a ‘keeping it real' post. This is the current view of Emma’s desk. She is mid-video for the final set of Spirit of Flora patterns coming on the 21st of the month, specifically, the Sunflower.

​We are showing this to illustrate that despite working hard to expand our reach, we are a small company of just a few people, working freelance from our kitchen tables and other places! We all have family life to balance and we work odd (and often long) hours.

At Janie Crow we work hard to make our video tutorials and Emma in particular spends a lot of time creating them. We are very proud of the video content we create and they are always posted for free. We want to support you through some of the more complex designs and we collect the questions or feedback on our videos to allow us to target the sections of a design that we get asked about most. This is not ideal for all people, especially those who want to be talked through every single aspect of pattern row by row, and we understand that.
 
We are so well supported by you, our lovely crochet community and we are really grateful for that, however, on occasion, it can be a little upsetting to see some of the comments we receive, most particularly on YouTube, which tends to be the place where we get the most adverse feedback, most often because more is expected than that we have offered or because crocheters are struggling to understand a pattern and are frustrated.

So, let’s discuss the value in making your own mistakes when crocheting, figuring it out and, yes, 'fudging' it! 

For many of us, when we first learned to crochet, there were far fewer videos to support us. Lots of us learned from books, or workshops and very often, we have had to puzzle over a stitch or a pattern or a perplexingly varying stitch count! There is such a lot to be gained from this approach. There is absolutely no shame in making a mistake, time and again, while learning.  Crochet is incredibly forgiving in that we can frog a row or a round and rework it relatively quickly.
 
Fudging: This is controversial but let’s discuss it! Imagine the scenario: you’ve made your motifs, diligently sewn in all the ends and joined them all together to create a blanket you’re really proud of. The only thing left to add is the border. Despite following the pattern to the letter, you cannot make that stitch count work. You’re 3 pesky stitches short ..... What to do?  
 
DEPLOY THE FUDGE! That’s what!

What does this mean? In this case it means adding in an extra few sts along an edge (which could be in the region of 200 stitches long for example) so will not show. Shove a couple into a stitch here and there and hey presto, perfect stitch count, gorgeous straight border and NO ONE WILL KNOW!  
 
Why do we feel weird about this? It feels like we are cheating doesn’t it?  

Well, no, we are not! In this scenario we like to think about the “modesty block” from quilting bees from a couple of centuries back. This was a block which was not quite right, ostensibly on purpose (yeah right) and added with pride to the quilt to show that “only God is perfect”. Brilliant! An infallible excuse for a fudge!
 
Make those mistakes dear crocheters, find your own ways to work, there are no crochet police and certainly no puritanical yarn-based judgement here. Find your groove, find your way and if you’re really stuck and we haven’t made a video for that bit: get in touch, our lovely Sarah will always help - from her kitchen table x