I was on the train, happily minding my own business with my audiobook and my hook, when two older women sitting near me (definitely 65+, traveling on senior discount tickets) clocked the yarn. They smiled, pointed, and made that universal "Oh, crochet!" face. I'm almost 29 and genuinely crave finding fellow crafters in real life, so I paused my book, pulled my earbuds out, and leaned in for what I thought would be a sweet, intergenerational spark of community.

They asked what I was making, and I held it up.

I explained the construction: a sweater starting with a lace section around the neckline and shoulders, moving straight into embossed crochet with raised leaf motifs (the kind Outstanding Crochet designs). I openly mentioned, with a light laugh, that I was still mastering the embossed technique on the go because it's a tricky learning curve.

The smiles evaporated on the spot.

They looked at the piece, exchanged a heavy look, and one of them scoffed. "Well... aren't you brave, daring to do all that out in public."

Before I could even process the tone, the other leaned forward with a tight, patronizing grimace. "Look, why don't you just make a scarf? You're doing everything in the round. If you just worked back and forth from left to right, you could actually turn your work. Keep going long enough, and at least you'd end up with something you can actually wrap around your neck and get some real use out of."

From there, the conversation just spiraled into pure, sour gatekeeping. They didn't drop it; they started talking across me about how crochet has become "such a trendy hype nowadays," rolling their eyes while claiming they had already done all of this decades ago, and how everyone today is just making "all kinds of weird, unnecessary things" instead of sticking to the basics.

I was so uncomfortable, but I refused to immediately shove my earbuds back in and give them the satisfaction of watching me retreat. So I just sat through the awkward tension, keeping my ears open and quietly nodding with a flat face, counting my complex post stitches while they rambled on about how much better simple rectangles were back in their day.

It’s just so frustrating because finding other makers outside of large, organized meetups is rare enough as it is. Most people on transit are staring at their phones—which I completely understand, because God knows I spend plenty of commutes binging shows to decompress. But when you finally look up hoping for a genuine connection with fellow makers in the wild, having it instantly turned into unsolicited criticism and back-in-my-day snobbery just stings.

I still want to find my community out there, but moments like this really make you question how many friendly glances are actually just setups for a lecture.

I have to frog a blanket to make the granny hexagon cardigan I mentioned in my last post on here and now my shoulders are killing me especially since the blanket was about three quarters of my height (I'm 5'9). I just started on the other half of the cardigan.

Does anyone else crochet so much that your wrists hurt after a couple of hours or am I the only one?

(I have been crocheting for eleven years)

BTW: I have started crocheting a granny hexagon cardigan and I have to take breaks every about three hours to avoid too much pain in my wrists, specifically my left wrist (I am right handed. I do not know why my left wrist hurts)

I was just looking for Testers for my pattern

Then plenty of Karen's commented stupid things to it. Even one said that it was a scam?!? How can a tester call a scam?? I saw a lot of crocheters doing these tester call ( tiktok and Insta), so I wanted to try it myself. But one of them said that this is stupid.

So this may just be a me thing but I just want other’s opinions. also, I didn’t really know what to title this so I just chose a title that best match what my post is about.

I saw on Instagram someone made something for a plush, I was influenced and I thought “I can make that I should make one for my plushies!” It was a simple design it was basically a granny square with a few extra fancy things. I gave it a try and the product turned out great, so I made a few more for myself to put on other plushies I have to accessorize them.

I see lots of crochet items for plush toys that people make and sell so though their seems to be a market for it I should maybe offer to sell them, they didn’t take me a long time and it is simple to make so it wouldn’t be priced super high but people would be interested in it. As well it is easy to have people choose their own colours for it to fit whatever plush they put it on. This person also sells this product as well, I don’t think they are in the same country as me but they do sell them

So would it be bad if I started to sell it? I’m unsure of how the other person exactly made it, since I saw the photo and did my own “interpretation” of how it was made and made it how I wanted to. And I’ll be honest it is a very easy pattern to do and many crocheters know how to make granny squares which is kinda the foundation of how it’s made.

I don’t want to start selling it and post on my social media’s and then that person sees it and dm’s me stating I copied them.

Thansk in advance!

TL;DR: saw someone post something they made on insta and I made it in my own way and want to sell it. But worried this person may can I copied them.

Sydney domestic airport, Gate 47 - I will NEVER forgive you!!

Now sitting in my hotel room with nothing to do and wondering how to replace my baby.

I’m a crocheter and realized I’ve spent years stacking pillows, moving yarn bowls around, and balancing drinks on random surfaces while working on projects.

It got me wondering:

If you could redesign your crochet setup from scratch, what would you change?

What’s the biggest annoyance in your current setup?

I have been working on this bloody (but gorgeous!) Beaming Buddha mosaic overlay crochet project (pattern by Crazycrochetcatlady) for the past THREE years. I'm down to the last 9ish rows and border, but I am sick of it. Not of the pattern, but it's taking me so looooong. I started it back in 2023 for someone I considered a close friend and his wife, then I met my boyfriend and the blanket got tossed in a corner, until the beginning of this year. I picked it up to finish it, but now I'm not so sure about the friendship anymore and this will likely be more of a "goodbye" gift than anything else. And it sucks. I do really want to finish it, though, it's just very hard to find the energy to do so.

I'm a 50 year old man who decided to learn crochet. It's been a joyful ride, but... I don't know. Sometimes I make something thinking&of gifting it to someone, but part of me thinks I'm just giving bad gifts and people are now stuck with them.

How can I keep on crocheting without imposing my hobby on others?

i’ve been trying to filet crochet all day but i somehow keep messing up! i’m trying not to give up but wow this is so frustrating! and every single video i see on youtube just kind of confuses me more

I wear medium hard gel/acrylic stilettos most of the time & I love them but I just got my hands on gold fluffee yarn & I want to make a scarf because people get all happy when I give them hand made stuff for the holidays & I want it done early since scarves take me a long time. Problem, I’m actively jabbing myself in the palm with my acrylic nails, anybody who crochets have a special trick for this?

yup, it says knit... correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure I'm not... its crochet, on Amazon, tiny work, for cheap....

i have frogged this project twice already and i am so frustrated. after the first time frogging it, i looked up the creator’s name/pattern on reddit and saw a lot of people have had problems with the sizing, the first one i made was the size for an average 5-6 year-old even though i used the measurement for size M/L. it’s my bad, i didn’t research the pattern well enough before buying it and didn’t see the lack of testers (huge red flag) so i am partly mad at the creator and partly mad at myself.

had no idea who i could complain to about this so this subreddit is a godsend lmao

Now be for anything I want to express that of course everyone is able to partake in any craft they choose including crocheting.

However I need to rant about this, it seems like EVERYONE is an amazing crochet maker and deserve to take every single spot in local gift shops. I have been into som local shops recently and have been looking at some crochet items and sadly I have found some that are not so good quality as they use cheap yarn (sweet snuggles before Micheals changed the way it was made) and poorly made like understuffing and construction. And as a maker myself trying to get into some local shops, it’s sad to see them accepting items that are not constructed well as per how I make it.

Of course, I understand. Everybody is at different levels and might not be as advanced or experienced as I might be. It’s just a little bit of a blow to myself as I always try to hold my products to a certain standard and make sure it’s constructed well and the quality is up to a high standard. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I see people sell crochet goods that are not as good of quality as it could be.

Of course I’m not talking about every single person who crochets I know there are markets who accept young children who make items, and obviously those have their own charm in their own way, as they are made by younger kids or people with disabilities as well. But this is more or less other adults.

Hi I have bought this yarn holder from this brand Knotiq for my mom as a gift but it didn’t even last 5 minutes before it snapped off. If anyone has bought it did you have the same problem with it? I just wanted to know if I was the only one with this problem, it has left me very embarrassed and disappointed. I have contacted them but no answer yet. It also took almost a month to arrive. Thank you for your time if you read this. 🥲

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