Picture this. You’ve just fallen head over heels for crochet. You’ve made your first granny square, then your tenth, and it feels so good you want to share it. So you film a tutorial, post it, and wait for the love to roll in.
Instead, the comments fill up with one question: Who’s the designer?
If you’re new to crochet, or new to selling or creating content around it, that moment can feel like you walked into a party where everyone else got a rulebook at the door. And honestly? In a way, they did. It just wasn’t written down anywhere.
Let me say this up front: I didn’t write these rules. Nobody did, really. They grew out of decades of makers sharing patterns, swapping ideas, and looking out for the designers who make the patterns we all love. What I’m sharing here is what I’ve noticed in more than ten years of running a crochet business, coaching makers, and making my share of mistakes along the way. Different corners of the crochet world see some of this differently, and that’s okay.
So grab a coffee, and let’s walk through it together.
What happened with Elyse Myers?
Elyse Myers is a comedian and content creator with a big online following. In early 2024 she fell in love with crochet and shared her learning out loud, the way she shares most things. Then she posted a beginner YouTube tutorial for a retro daisy granny square.
A lot of crocheters recognized the design. It looked a great deal like the Daisy Flower Charity Square by Krochet Krystal, and the tutorial didn’t credit her. The conversation got loud, fast. Some of it was thoughtful. Some of it was not very kind.
My take then is my take now: this looked like a newcomer who didn’t know a norm, not someone trying to take anything. And here’s the good news hiding in it. Her tutorial brought a whole wave of brand-new crocheters into our world. That’s something worth celebrating, and it’s exactly why it matters that we help newcomers learn the ropes kindly.
What is this trying to teach me? What can I learn from this? How can I grow and change? How can I innovate? How can I be creative? And how can I be a kinder, more welcoming, stronger, better, more-aligned-with-my-values kind of person?
– Pamela Grice, the Crochetpreneur
Why the crochet community has unwritten rules at all
Crochet has always been a sharing craft. Grandmas taught granddaughters, church groups swapped patterns, and now millions of us trade ideas online every day. That generosity is the best thing about this community.
But behind almost every pattern is a designer, and many of them are small business owners just like you. A free pattern on a blog still pays the designer through ad revenue, email signups, or people who come back to buy her paid patterns. Credit is how that designer gets found. So when the community is protective about credit, it isn’t fussiness. It’s people looking out for each other.
One quick note before we dig in: I’m not a lawyer, and this post isn’t about the law. Copyright generally covers a designer’s written pattern, photos, and videos, while individual stitches and techniques usually aren’t protected. Most of what follows is about courtesy, not courtrooms. If you have a legal question about your business, a lawyer who knows intellectual property is the right person to ask.
The unwritten rules I’ve seen hold steady
These are the patterns I’ve noticed across Ravelry, Etsy, Facebook groups, TikTok, and craft fair tables. Think of them less as rules and more as the way the community tends to say “we’re glad you’re here.”
- Credit the designer when you share something you made from her pattern. Her name and a link is all it takes. It’s the single most common thing people will ask about.
- Share the link, not the pattern. Even with a free pattern, send friends to the designer’s page instead of passing along the PDF or a screenshot.
- Ask before you teach someone else’s design. Showing off your finished square is one thing. Walking people through how to make it, stitch by stitch, is a different thing, and most designers would love to be asked first.
- “Inspired by” still gets a mention. If another designer’s work sparked your idea, saying so costs nothing and builds goodwill.
- Read the designer’s terms before you sell finished items. Many designers happily allow it, often with a request for credit. Some ask you to keep it small-batch. The pattern page usually tells you.
- Similar isn’t always stolen. Simple motifs like a daisy, a basic granny, or a heart get invented over and over by different people. When you spot a lookalike, start by assuming good faith.
- Correct kindly, and privately first. A friendly direct message lands better than a public pile-on, and it gives a newcomer room to fix things with dignity.
- Lift each other up. Shout out your pattern testers, tag the designer when you love her work, and share other makers’ launches. The rising tide really does lift all our boats.
Crediting well is easier than most people think. You need three things: the pattern name, the designer’s name, and a way to find the pattern. Here’s a caption you could use almost anywhere:
Retro daisy square, made from the Daisy Flower Charity Square pattern by Krochet Krystal. Get the pattern here! 🌼
Where to put it depends on where you’re sharing:
- Instagram and TikTok: name and tag the designer in your caption, and put the pattern link in your bio or comments if links aren’t clickable.
- YouTube: say the designer’s name out loud in the video and link the pattern in the description. People skip descriptions, but they hear you.
- Your blog: name the designer and link straight to her pattern page, not to a site that copied it.
- Etsy or a craft fair: if the designer’s terms allow selling finished items, a line like “Made from a pattern by [designer]” in your listing or on a hang tag is a lovely touch. At a busy booth, simply telling a customer who asks is often enough.
Not sure who designed something? Ravelry’s pattern search is a good place to start, and asking in a crochet group usually turns up an answer quickly. If you truly can’t find the original, “designer unknown, I’d love to credit them if anyone knows!” is an honest and welcome thing to say.
How to ask permission before you publish a tutorial
If you want to teach someone else’s design, whether that’s a video, a blog walkthrough, or a class, asking first is the norm. Most designers are thrilled to be asked. Some will say yes with a few conditions, like linking to the written pattern. A few will say no, and that’s their call to make.
A good permission message is short and specific. Tell her who you are, exactly what you want to make, where it will live, and how you’ll credit her. Here’s wording you can borrow and make your own:
Hi [Designer name]! I’m [your name] from [your shop or channel]. I love your [pattern name] and I’d like to film a beginner video tutorial of it for my YouTube channel. I’d credit you by name in the video and link your pattern at the top of the description so viewers can get the written version from you. Would that be okay with you? If you’d rather I didn’t, or you’d like it done differently, I completely understand. Thank you for making such a beautiful pattern!
A couple of tips from experience:
- Get the yes in writing. A reply in email or DMs is plenty. Screenshot it so you have it later.
- No answer isn’t a yes. If you don’t hear back after a week or two, a gentle follow-up is fine. If there’s still nothing, pick a different pattern or design your own.
- Make it easy to say yes. Offering to link her pattern, tag her, or share her shop shows you’re bringing her something, not just taking.
If you find out you got it wrong
It happens to almost everyone at some point. You’ll post something, and someone will kindly (or not so kindly) point out a missed credit. Here’s the whole fix:
- Add the credit, or take the post down if the designer asks you to.
- Thank the person who told you, even if their delivery stung a little.
- Let it go and keep making.
That’s it. You don’t need a long public apology or a week of beating yourself up. A quick, gracious fix tells everyone you’re the kind of maker who cares about getting it right, and that’s the reputation that lasts.
For those of us who’ve been around a while
If you’ve been in crochet for years, you have something newer makers don’t: the context. And newcomers like Elyse bring something we don’t always have: huge, curious audiences who’ve never picked up a hook before. That’s good for every single one of us.
When someone new misses a norm, we get to choose how they meet the community. A kind comment that says “Love this! I think it’s based on Krochet Krystal’s pattern, she’d love a shout-out” teaches more than a hundred angry ones. It also makes it much more likely they’ll stick around, buy patterns, and become the next generation of designers and customers.
None of us were born knowing this stuff. Somebody was patient with us once.
Frequently Asked Questions
In early 2024, content creator Elyse Myers posted a beginner YouTube tutorial for a retro daisy granny square. Many crocheters pointed out that it closely resembled the Daisy Flower Charity Square by Krochet Krystal and that the original designer wasn’t credited. It sparked a big community conversation about pattern credit and how we welcome newcomers.
It’s not usually a legal requirement, but it’s one of the strongest norms in the crochet community, and many designers ask for it on their pattern pages. A name and a link takes ten seconds and earns a lot of goodwill.
The community norm is to ask the designer first. Her written pattern, photos, and videos are her work, and a step-by-step tutorial of her specific design would very likely cut into how she earns a living. Use the permission template above, and credit her clearly if she says yes. If she says no, honor her wishes.
Often, yes. Many designers allow it, sometimes with a request for credit or a limit on quantity. Check the pattern page or the PDF for the designer’s terms, and ask her directly if it isn’t clear.
A small line on your hang tag or a sign at your booth works well, but is simly a kindness, not somthing that can be required. At minimum, never claim the design as your own, and tell customers who designed it when they ask.
It happens more than you’d think, especially with simple motifs. Credit the pattern you actually used. If you designed something on your own and later find a lookalike, that’s usually a coincidence, not theft.
The bottom line
The crochet community isn’t a members-only club with a secret handbook. It’s a big, generous, sometimes noisy family that cares a lot about the people who design the patterns we love. Credit the designer, share the link, ask before you teach, and be kind when someone else forgets. That covers most of it.
And if you’re new here and still figuring it out? Good. You’re the kind of person who looks things up before you post, which tells me you’re going to do just fine.
Want a friendly place to ask the questions you’re not sure about? Come join us in the free Crochetpreneur Facebook group. It’s full of makers and designers at every stage, and nobody there will make you feel silly for asking.
Keep reading
- Pattern Thieves, Scammers, and Scrapers: Intellectual Property Theft in the Crochet Industry — the other side of this conversation, when copying isn’t an innocent mistake.
- Elyse’s original tutorial: Beginner’s Guide: How to Crochet a Retro Daisy Granny Square
- The original pattern: Daisy Flower Charity Square by Krochet Krystal
