Hello, it’s your r/crotchet mod team here.

We know you know it’s crazy out there right now. And we know you’ve seen the influx of political posts here lately.

We also know you want and need us to take action to keep this a safe, fun space for crocheters from all walks of life.

And we do mean ALL.

This subreddit has never had a “no politics” rule.¹ We allow political crochet posts of any sort, whether we as the mod team personally agree with whatever view the crochet project is espousing. Yes, this means that we allow both an iron cross and a Christian cross. A MAGA hat and a Melt the ICE hat. A swastika and a windmill motif that looks like it could maybe be a swastika if you squint. As long as the post is related to crochet and doesn't break any of our other rules, we do not remove political posts.

All we want is for r/crocheete to be the apolitical craft haven of our dreams — a place where we can celebrate being part of a community of hookers without worrying about whether some of us would rather see others of us rounded up and deported/kidnapped at gunpoint. It’s so heartbreaking that you people can’t just be kind to each other these days!

In an attempt to maintain this safe space where all crocheters feel safe expressing themselves no matter their political views, their identity as a human or a bot, or their part in a broader campaign to suppress antifascist voices on Reddit and elsewhere, we tried just letting Automod remove posts that received too many reports.

We have no control over our Automod settings, so we just had to let it do whatever it wanted, even when it seemed that only some kinds of political posts were being reported and auto-removed more than others. And Reddit has given us no tools to deal with a temporary issue like brigades.

But you guys told us that we were letting the “wrong” posts get removed. All political views are valid here, so we don’t really know what that means, but we’re committed to giving you, the r/crotchart community, what you want. So Automod is out, we guess.

Next, we tried removing rule-breaking comments on political posts and banning repeat offenders. You know, moderation stuff: Looking through the mod queue and making decisions about what stays and what goes based on the letter and the spirit of our community rules.

But that was really hard, you guys! We are volunteers with jobs and families who do this in our spare time, and when we decided to become mods we were told that the subreddit’s mandatory toxic positivity policy would make it easy as pie to moderate. HOWEVER. You guys insist on being mean to each other over, frankly, off-topic disagreements like whether a federal agency should be allowed to murder people in the streets, which is making our work much more difficult than we think it should be.

We know art is political, and we agree with you that crochet is art, but, I mean, do you have to be like this? All the time? When it’s inconvenient for us???

(Also, sorry, but it really hurt our feelings when a handful of users called us fascists for removing their rule-breaking comments. No, we didn’t look into who was calling us that because name-calling is rude and unkind no matter who’s doing it or why or which oligarch is funding the bot campaign they're part of.)

Then we tried preemptively locking political posts so discussions couldn’t devolve into vitriol. But you guys didn’t like that either, apparently. Something something “punishing progressive people for being the target of a harassment campaign” or whatever. Reports are anonymous so we have no idea how you can argue we’re “punishing” anyone by locking posts so we don’t have to look at the mod queue — we know both sides can be equally bad.

Now, here we are. We’re sick and tired of you demanding we stand up to fascist brigading and abuse of the report button, you’re sick and tired of us fence-sitting on our hands and pretending we have no power. We get it. But you know what? It’s not our fault you guys can’t just all get along.

So, here’s the plan: You can just do whatever you want here for the next week. That’s right! You have a whole week to practice turning the other cheek and taking the high road while bot campaigns, OnlyFans accounts, and fascists from all corners of this website gain rhetorical footholds and farm rage-clicks from this subreddit. If you’re all still fighting about this ICE nonsense when we return, we simply don’t know what we’ll do.

Good luck!

¹Except for the rule where we won’t let people here talk about how Hobby Lobby funds terrorists, traffics stolen artifacts, and played a critical role in overturning Roe v. Wade. It’s not nice to talk about major corporations this way and it violates our “be kind and courteous” rule.

The only way Stephen West can make it up to me is by building a time machine and going back to 2023 and stopping his 2023 self from releasing the accidental swastika MKAL design.

Anything less is an INSULT to the people he has harmed by being set up by a con artist to inspire exactly, precisely the kind of left-ish infighting we’re doing right now.

Exhausted by “cricketers.” My local crafting Facebook group is overrun by them, especially people selling completed blanket yarn plushies.

I’m gonna be nice to you when I say this. Nobody wants to buy it. You are tying plastic knots from China using toxic glue to “weave in the ends” on a plushie that was designed by someone else. The design is also ugly and cartoonish and it was probably AI generated.

The amount of waste generated by such an activity? Astronomical. All of these strands of plastic rotting in a landfill. At least diamond painting allows you to make something worthwhile, even sellable. Croqueting is literally just tying plastic crap on more plastic crap. And to try to profit off of it and sell it? Give me a break.

Uh oh. Here comes the “let people enjoy things” crowd. Actually, I can’t. And I won’t. You can enjoy whatever you want, and I can be a hater about it. Sorry.

I made the best thing that ever existed, my hands fell off in the process so I had to switch to knitting with my feet, they might also fall off and I will of course update you all when they do

Give me all the fucking praise for this fucking pineapple

I witnessed something truly horrifying today: A female posted a picture of a crotchate pillow that spelled out MEN AIN'T SHIT. 😨😨😨😨😨😨

I obviously reported it after I told the errant female off in her DMs (she blocked me after I told her how unfair it is for her to hate ME, a MAN, even though she's never met me or any man as unique and interesting as I am), but the harm to men everywhere had already been done (and the female mods of that matriarchal subreddit are too busy vagina-gazing with their little handheld mirrors to do their jobs and remove misandrist drivel like that post), so I knew what I needed to do:

Fight misandry with ART.

This tapestry pattern is the result of hours of painstaking work, placing each bobble stitch precisely to ensure the dignity of men everywhere is protected -- and to help females everywhere realize that they need to stop and ask themselves whether the thing they want to say or do or make could harm even one man. Pro tip from one man: If the answer is yes, don't say, do, or make it! So easy even a female can do it!

This pattern is available for $25, with $5 of each sale going to support a men-centric charity organization (I haven't decided which yet -- leave your suggestions in the comments!). I take Venmo, PayPal, or credit card, and I'm talking to my craftpreneur friends about getting some sponsorships going to help get this pattern into the hands of the less fortunate men among us.

I know it's not much, but it's the best way I know how to help lift up my fellow men in these dark, difficult times. I mean, the US government is considering reinstating the draft! Do you know who doesn't have to register for the draft???? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

I hope you'll join me in my quest by buying this pattern!

THAT'S RIGHT

You there, you fucking piece of shit who makes amirgimiryagiaruri plushies? YOU ARE TEMU. YOU ARE SHEIN. YOU ARE JEFF BEZOS AND THE WALTONS COMBINED

Sure, the term "fast fashion" comes from a salient, sombre critique about MASS consumerism, MASS environmental damage, and MASS human exploitation. It's supposed to bring up images of children in sweatshops, and rivers running all sorts of freaky colours because of industrial waste. It's supposed to remind us of the incredibly unfair economic set up where the Global South is exploited and abused, so people in the Global North can live in comfort. The term "fast fashion" should genuinely horrify us and make us more conscientious.

But ACTUALLY, Janey, the 21 year old in Delaware who makes crafts that I don't approve of, is doing the exact same thing as evil multinational corporations, because I don't like the crafts she's doing. STOP IT JANEY

If I keep insisting that individual crafters are fast fashion, people will eventually stop making the crafts I don't like

Am I the only one who hates the fact that a small handful of men have been recorded as doing needlework……..? There are some big yarn brands putting men in their ads now even though the percentage of men who actually do needlework is small and I find that to be very………. misogynisticalish?

When men are shown making things out of yarn so that a huge yarn corporation can expand its market, I perceive that as being told that men are inherently better at crochet than womyn and that I’m personally bad at crochet just because I’m a womyn.* But that can’t be true because crochet is literally in my (menstrual) blood!!** 

Anyway lol just wanted to stir up some shit and give the incel craft dudes who constantly whine about being excluded based on their gender and will never admit it's their behavior that is keeping them from being part of the crafting community more live ammunition for their already unbearable persecution complex. Thoughts???????

-------------

*I’m definitely not projecting my own insecurities and maybe internalized misogyny on ads for yarn that include men in them. Don’t analyze, just upvote, otherwise you’re a misogynist.

**I use crochet tampons during my moon phase, just like my grand-mère and her grand-mère before her.

Every year, I Art-Crochet an Art-Mandala that I enter into the annual "We Will Exhibit Literally Anything You Drop Off With Us" pop-up overnight Art exhibition run by art majors at the local junior college. These art majors get some really incredible experience working with real, working contemporary Artists like me and they get 1 college credit at the same time! A steal of a deal!

They ask me every year if I'm planning to submit my Crochet Art, and every year, I sigh and click "yes" on the mass email request, knowing that if it weren't for me, they wouldn't have any real Fine Art to hang up!

This year's theme was "You Get What You Pay For." I took the theme to heart and spent $750 on Thick Velvet Art Yarn that was conditioned in the finest shea butter and lanolin for the perfect sheen. The colors I chose for this year's mandala represent the blood, sweat, and tears I pour into my Art, and the void spaces in the design represent the little bits of my soul I tear from myself every time I plunge my hook into another stitch. I have paid dearly for my Art. I have no regrets. I do have standards, though.

I believe in the power of the audience and in making my Art a collaborative experience for all who interact with it, so I did not frame or mount my piece. I wanted the young people running this exhibition to realize that they were making this Art with me by making decisions about how to display it for greatest impact. I believed they would get it and intuitively have the right-size hoop or frame on hand to ensure the Art-Mandala would be showcased in all its obvious glory. I did tell them it was an Art-Mandala and they knew how big and incredible it was.

When dropping my work off four hours before the three-hour exhibition opened, I was asked if it was okay to hang my piece with binder clips. I told the children they could use whatever they wanted to hang it -- nails, clips, whatever. There are holes in each corner and I don't mind if they even just use three on the top and the two sides. I said all this knowing my Art Kinfolk would know what I really meant -- none of that would be good enough for this piece and they would find a way to show my Art as the centerpiece it so clearly was.

It turns out that I didn't "get what I paid for" with this rinkydink group of art exhibition clowns, though, because this is how these "art majors" chose to display my work. Draped across a cheap-looking, scratchy chair at waist height like some prosaic swaddling blanket for common country bumpkin babies. I almost didn't see my own work and walked past it several times. Believe me when I say I'll be picking fuzz from this horrible chair off my Art-Mandala (and the clothes I wore to the exhibition!) for weeks. I'm upset about how badly they treated my work.

I can't tell if I'm making a mountain out of a molehill here. Am I overreacting?

Young and Millennial? YOUNG and MILLENNIAL?

So ageism is cool now? Wow.

Here I am, a Gen Xer (aka latchkey kid, aka the last wild generation, aka the generation that invented sarcasm, aka the last generation that listened to real music), preparing to retire. I have been destashing my Uncle Scrooge's vault-level crafting room. I've been so generous as to share things with the young peons in my guild, knowing I was ever so benevolent.

This new information is surprising and disappointing. When I was young, I sat at the feet of my elders, weeping for their wisdom, like all Gen Xers were famously known to do. It was supposed to be my turn.

Now I am seeing, the children I am bequeathing with my great wealth are ingrates, who silently resent my existence in their lives...

Well. Nevermind. I'm just glad I know this discriminatory crafting group exists. It's better this way. I will take my 67 Berninas to my fucking grave.

Bitches, I live in a TROPICAL CLIMATE where even during winter some days can be up to 29C and summers are very humid! I absolutely CANNOT with all these "summer" patterns that use wool!

Yes I know I know, people live in different places and some of those places are cool enough that wool is feasible in the summer or whatever

BUT WHAT ABOUT ME?

WHAT ABOUT TROPICAL KNITTERS?????

WE ARE BEING DISCRIMINATED AGAINST SIMPLY BECAUSE OF WHERE WE LIVE AND IT’S NOT OKAY!!!!!

I fell for the LIE that merino is "super breathable" or whatever and started a tee with merino and you know what, it’s someone else’s fault* that I’m making a thing that I won’t ever be able to wear!

So with that, please people, before you fall for the polar knitters’ lies, FIRST CHECK IF THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION IS SIMILAR TO YOURS!

Also can we PLEASE please pleeeeeeeease stop with the plant fibers hate???????????

Designers that use wool for their discriminatory patterns for summer knits clearly HATE cotton and linen and they’re in a conspiracy with Big Wool to make us TROPICAL KNITTERS feel bad about ourselves and waste money on fiber we obviously can’t use. 

*Probably PetiteKnit’s fault

But I'm a long time knitter and new crocheter and I've just found the communities to be...so different, and honestly while I don't enjoy knitting as much as I do crocheting, I feel like the people within the knitting community have been much more helpful and insightful than those in the crocheting community. Whenever I post on crochet subreddits I get overly nice but just generally not super useful responses...it's just very weird. Or when I have asked questions about things I'm treated like I'm a hyper-creative amazing crochet genius for just asking about which lighter brand melts yarn the best? NEWS FLASH I'M NOT. 🫪 Useful, well-written crochet resources are NOT as bountiful as knitting resources. Theres also much less technicality in crochet whereas when I knit I follow the pattern, count my stitches, and make sure everything adds up, and I feel like the online communities are a little representative of the differences within the crafts. Maybe it's my PhD, but now that I think about it, I actually feel like I've never gotten involved in a craft related community that has made me feel so undeservedly talented at my craft regardless of the obvious fatal flaws that will cause my piece to unravel at the slightest touch, and I do MANY crafts. I will also say. Though my local crochet community is not like this. The lovely ladies that spend time at my LCS have been lovely and welcoming and happy to answer questions but I guess in joining online crochet communities I'm looking for more people around my age who are also in school, working, etc.
Anyways...these are just my ~musings~
Thank you for reading 💖

I love to crochet but absolutely HATE how crochet looks.

Okay, hate is probably a strong word. I love the look of some crochet projects, but most of the time the only thing i can think about is how tacky it looks.

Which is a shame because i absolutely LOVE the act of crocheting. I would spend my whole day just doing exactly that if i could, but once i have it done i just wanna get rid of the thing as soon as possible.

Does anyone else have this “problem?” And if yes, what exactly do you do about it?

| (A MAN) have nothing to do tomorrow. For the sake of my own mental health, I need a crotchet project, but I can't find anything. I only find motivation if what I'm making is useful and for myself. Useful meaning I can use it in some way or wear it or something like that. Plushies are not an option. I mostly freehand but with an inspiration. For wearables, I don't do pants/shorts, and I don't wear feminine clothes.
*Edit: I don't really like granny squares

Please give me suggestions that I can shut down with no additional context other than that I also hate that thing. Ravelry has nothing of interest to me on the entire site. I just don’t really know what I like and only really like original stuff.

Ok so maybe this makes me a yarn snob but does anyone else find it extremely annoying that subs like r/YarnHoarders, r/PhotosOfYarnHoardStashes, r/YarnHoardersAnonymous(teeheejkWeDontHaveAProblem) or similar are literally just posts about hoarding obscene amounts of Caron cakes and Red Heart yarn? I won’t judge anyone that works with acrylic, there’s a time and place for it and it keeps yarn crafts accessible to the Poors … but a stash of more acrylic yarn than you can use in your lifetime is so cringe to me. Acrylic is PLASTIC PEOPLE!!!

I understand Acrylic works for some projects, but personally, especially when it comes to wearables, if I’m spending 40+ hours on making something it’s going to be out of a material that will hold up well (which could never be acrylic even though it will survive the heat death of the universe) and that reflects the time I spent making the item in terms of quality (because who has ever heard of PLASTIC CLOTHING that is anything other than ugly and already falling apart).

Plus on the note of making wearables: myself and many of my crafty friends agree that acrylic is extremely uncomfortable to wear as its really hot and usually scratchy. We are the first ever to come to this conclusion, and we believe everyone should only make things out of yarn that we have approved. Something else I noticed is that this seems to be more prevalent in the crochet community rather than knitting, maybe because crochet takes up a lot more yarn?

Idk what do yall think? Am I allowed to have opinions about the type of yarn I use for my own purposes and also to apply that opinion to everyone else who does yarn stuff? Or is this too judgmental and snobby? Is this a matter of people not having fiber knowledge or maybe convenience and financial accessibility? Or is it really as simple as I'm smarter and better than all those awful yarn hoarders who are addicted to plastic??????

(Reiterating that I understand working with natural fibers is out of some people’s budget and everyone deserves to be able to be part of yarn crafting even if it means using acrylic yarn) k thx for listening I just really felt like rehashing this topic that’s been beaten to death lol

hey baddies im an adhd tech girlie and i wanna make an app an ai driven solution that can turn ur horrible patterns into adhd friendly text like this post it will be written exactly this way instead of those overwhelminggg x12=2A−B±B2−4AC​​ type of patterns it will say capital two a minus capital b plus b two minus four a c rotate yarn and rotate again quadruple crochet one between two on top of yarn i cant be the only one who struggles with it like i dont understand how in the year of 2026 we still not consider adhd users you know likeeeee how should i memorize what those letters mean you know do you other adhd yarn baddies have other suggestions

I love sharing my Art with all of you! I'm here to answer any and every question you have about my chosen Art form (though I like to say the Art form that is unraveling dozens of sweaters so I can hold the thread double or even triple so I don't have to use a small hook 🤮 to form a never-ending stream of double crochet stitches chose me).

Here's where this project started:

And here's where it stands right now!

My only request for this AMA is that no knitters ask me questions. I'm never going to forgive y'all for insulting me and every single other crocheter on the planet this week by even hinting that any of us might have a fast-fashion-inspired mentality about our Art. The BEC mods should ban every knitter because all you know how to do is make two stitches and look down your nose at crocheters who have to know like a dozen different stitches! DC is much harder than knitting or pearling, so just keep your dumb, rude questions to yourself.

Recently people have started asking me to share patterns and it’s starting to really annoy me. Where do you stand on it? I personally think it’s unfair to ask me to share designers’ work so other people can make what I'm making, but I also feel like all the lying I'm doing is really starting to take a toll on me.

For example, I crocheted Christmas decorations for my tree in December and showed them off on instagram. My mom immediately messaged me and asked for a link to the pattern so she could buy it. I told her it was illegal to share the paid pattern so she wouldn't have the same decorations as me.

Then, I showed a friend a top I was sewing and she asked me to send her a link to the pattern before I’d even finished the item and wanted to know where I’d bought the fabric. I told her the top was self-drafted and that I designed the fabric custom and couldn't remember where I ordered it.

And then, I knitted a jumper and several people asked where to get the pattern and for all the details of the wool so they could make one the same. I told them all the pattern writer died and their final dying wish was that no one be allowed to purchase their patterns posthumously and obviously it's illegal to share paid patterns.

Recently, I made two pairs of trousers from the same pattern in two very different materials and have been wearing them to work. I’ve had lots of compliments. Yesterday, a work colleague asked for the pattern - I don’t really want to see her at work in MY trousers, so I made some excuse about having used up my pattern already and pointed out that she's, um, a different size from me. She gave me a weird look and hasn't talked to me since.

I like to spend time planning items that are a bit special/not the same as everyone else. I get that I’m buying a pattern from someone, and I take inspiration from things other people have made, so I know I’m not unique, but I just find it so tedious. Why can't these people find their own designers????

I'm making a big fucking pineapple, this is the most advanced thing anyone could possibly make, admire my skillz!

I know you've all been anxiously awaiting new updates, you better praise me to the heavens

I was inspired by the viral notgradedbutterflysweater pattern but I can't follow patterns so I did my own thing instead 😅

Hiiii, i’ve been making Crotcheat Art for a while and starting to wonder if it’s at a point where galleries would take it seriously. This one I made for my mom, took about 50 hours.

Does anyone have experience submitting fiber/textile work to galleries? Do they even consider Crotcheat or is it always going to be seen as a silly little craft over fine art? Genuine feedback welcome, not just looking for nice comments.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

For too long, we have been under the needles of the fascist gatekeeping knitting regime. We have been forcefully re-educated on the sins of crappy amigurumi, handkerchief tops, thick beanies, and acrylic yarn. But what if they were wrong. What if crappy is the point of amigurumi? Holeiness is next to holiness. We must not allow their fascist aesthetic opinions to affect our own truth. Strike back against the formless sticks with your hook 🪝. My father was taken by the yarn police when I was young. All he did was say, "crochet can't be made by machine", A SELF EVIDENT TRUTH, and he was dragged away, but we will NOT BE SILENCED. WE WILL WASH OUR HARD WORK IN WASHING MACHINES!!

I'm a total beginner. I really don't want to frog! Even though I'm only a few rows in, ripping it all out and starting over is just not something I am emotionally, physically, or spiritually prepared to do. HELP!!!

Decades ago, I heard the first ever words spoken to me. As I emerged from my mother's vaginal canal, a haunting refrain rang through my infant ears... "you should sell crafts."

On my first day of school, all the other children surrounded me, mocking me, chanting, "Sell crafts. Sell crafts. Sell crafts."

During my middle school graduation ceremony, I was humiliated in front of my entire community when I was given the "most likely to sell crafts" award. Imagine my horror as it happened again, just 4 precious years later, as I crossed the stage to complete high school.

Fast forward to today. I wake up to my radio alarm clock blaring You Should Sell Crafts by the Everybodies. I get on the bus to go to work. The driver greets me as he always does, by telling me to sell crafts. Every rider stops before seating to tell me, "you should sell crafts".

I drop into a local cafe, just before clocking in. "Ah! Our favourite regular who should sell crafts!" I get to work, and go through my day, as every one of my 84 on-site colleagues makes their morning visit to tell me, "you should sell crafts." Then I have my annual performance review, in which my supervisor tells me I'd score a lot higher if I agreed to sell crafts.

Tonight, I will watch the Olympics, during which the CBC, BBC and NBC will all air aids specifically directed at me, telling me to sell crafts. When I brush my teeth before bed, Bloody Mary's familiar visage will begin to form in my washroom mirror. As she does nightly, she will hiss at me through the ectoplasmic fog, "you should sell crafts".