Shame on me, really, for not doing my due diligence on my purchase. I wanted to crochet a shamrock, and went looking for patterns. I found one that looked cute and was “on sale” with high ratings and over a thousand purchases for the shop in Etsy. I bought it because I really do want to support pattern makers. The pictures were beautiful, but not helpful, and the instructions were skeletal and incomplete. The layout looked like it was copied and pasted from the free version of ChatGPT version 1. I did attempt to make the shamrock, and found that I had to lean heavily on my own crochet knowledge to puzzle out what to do on a pattern listed as “beginner friendly.” My shamrock had a hole in the middle.

So this post is going to be about what to look for when purchasing patterns.

• Check how long the shop has been in business (on Etsy this information is on the shop page). Under a year is suspect.
• Check the shop name. Does it match the logo or has there been numbers tacked on? The logo might look professional and familiar, but if the shop name is different, it is someone pretending to be a different shop.
• Read the 1 star reviews, even if you have to scroll for while.
• You get what you pay for. A $2 pattern is not going to be a complete tutorial on how to crochet. (Although in my professional opinion if it says beginner, it should, regardless of price.)
• Reach out to the shop owner. I did get a prompt response, with canned answers. It was obvious from the first interaction that the answers were not from someone well versed in crochet or helping or teaching.

My $2 purchase cost me more time and hassle than it was worth. What really makes me boil is that there are beginner crafters out there looking for patterns and this kind of garbage causes doubt in their own ability, rather than looking to the pattern as the fault.

And all those 5 star reviews? I strongly suspect that they are all the same person (or group of people?) posting the same fake or pirated photos under different accounts. A complicated ruse, but a profitable one, unfortunately.