>Every day I try to wear something I’ve crocheted, that is, on the rare days I get dressed and leave my abode. 99% of the time I am at home and only need to throw a favorite shawl over my pajamas in order to make a mailbox run or grab boxes of yarn left on the front porch by the delivery guys. So much for the glamorous, action-packed lifestyle of a crochet designer!

In my continuing crusade to offer T-shirt and jeans as an acceptable mode of dress, I gravitate toward any sort of attractive layer: vests, tanks, toppers and shrugs. Not only are these little pieces relatively quick to crochet, but if ingeniously crafted they can hide a multitude of sins.

For example, here is the prototype for the Cat’s Cradle topper, from the January 2007 issue of Crochet! Magazine. If you’re wearing something lacy made in a wonderful yarn in an eye-popping shade of electric blue, then nobody notices the coffee dribble that stubbornly refuses to wash out of your white T-shirt. Trust me.

See the cat? See the cradle? See the coffee stains?????? 😀

I own many design prototypes, but hardly any garment samples as published. Not satisfied with mere swatching, I often dive into a pile of yarn and crochet a whole garment. That way I can “test drive” pieces by wearing the prototypes around before I even consider submitting for publication. Eventually I have to go back, pattern the thing and remake it in the required sample yarn. This is not the same as “pattern testing”; remaking your own written pattern or hiring someone else to do it in order to check accuracy. In my experience designers are never allowed enough time, materials or compensation to make that happen. More important to me than writing a perfect pattern is making sure that the clothes fit and function for real.

For this reason many crocheters (and technical editors!) find my patterns are nightmares to follow. Sorry about the mess. But if you have the heart to persevere I think you’ll end up with something that you’ll want to wear proudly.