Flipping through the pages of a crochet magazine you picked up on a whim, you find something that you absolutely HAVE to make. You don't know why, the pattern is just screaming at you!
You are not alone. Like a sculptor who asks the slab of marble what it is going to be, certain yarns just scream at a designer what they should become. Some patterns are so unique, so elegant, that you must make them even if you have no apparent use for the finished product.
It doesn't happen to me very often, but when it does, there is a reason for it. These patterns usually teach me new techniques or how to obtain a certain look. The most recent one was for a child's dress in a reprint of a Victorian era crochet pattern book. I don't have any small children around to make things for, but I still felt I had to make this dress!
I had recently traded some yarn for a cone of off-white rayon chenille. Every time I looked at that cone, I saw the sketch of that dress in my mind's eye. Eventually it got to be too much, so I started the pattern.
What did I learn? For starters, I had to convert the pattern stitches to American stitches. Secondly, the way the pattern mixed up vertical and horizontal stitches was incredibly easy to do and made a very defined look. Although the pattern was intimidating at first, it was actually easier than I thought. Lastly, it confirmed that sometimes your gut knows things your brain hasn't figured out yet.
So if a pattern is calling out to you, take the time to make it. You can always find someone to give it to once the item is done, and you might learn something along the way!
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