Crochet design

One of the ladies in my Ravelry group has been asking about crochet design classes.
I've told her I don't think there are any, as I've never heard of any, but I could be wrong.
Its got me thinking about crochet design in general.
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I spend a lot of time on Ravelry looking at projects and patterns and have come to the conclusion that crochet design is about 10 years behind knitting design.
About 80% of crochet projects are made with cheap acrylic and feature the long time favourite granny square.
Please don't think I am anti granny squares as all crocheters and designers need to start somewhere and its a very simple motif, easy to make and perfect for beginners.
I'm not even anti acrylic even though I hate it and wouldn't use it myself, I understand that a lot of people can't afford more expensive yarn, especially if its for a blanket.
Plus a lot of beginners don't want to invest in expensive yarn only to find out they don't like crochet or find they can't do it.

My first blanket design was Bessies Blanket and was made with granny squares.
Bessie was a huge success, mainly because of the way the colours worked together. the success lead me to experiment and I haven't stopped experimenting since.

As I began to understand how crochet motifs worked my designs became more complicated and I decided it was my mission to change the way crocheters thought, gently persuade them to move forward from the granny and try something more complex.
So I wrote this

"My personal crusade is to make crochet motif’s sexy & desirable.

They normally have a bad reputation, ever noticed the un-loved granny square blankets lurking in the depths of many charity shops? 

The motifs deserve a bit more respect and love, hence my crusade!"

In the last year or so I have realised that I am trying to swim against the tide and being arrogant to think I can change the crochet world.

A big perecntage of the crochet world is happy where it is and doesn't want to change and if it makes them happy I shouldn't presume that I know better.

I have stepped away from my crusade, gone back to using a very simple motif and decided to concentrate on colour instead. After all its the thing that inspires me the most, being a dyer means I can dye the colours I need. 

You might of noticed NDS's colour range is based around the rainbow, very selfishly I've created my own palette :-)

Anyway going back to crochet design.

The remaining 20% of crocheter's/designers are moving forwards and making more and exciting designs.

For example if you search Crochet Shawl in the Ravelry patterns you will find some absolutely beautiful designs.

There are some incredibly talented designers, have a look at their profiles most of them started off with something simple like scarves and have developed over time.

I'll leave the crusade to them as they are doing a lot better job than I was and carry on indulging myself.

So my advice to my dear Ravelry lady is to start off slowly, don't run before you can walk.

Experiment and take time to develop your own style.

And good luck, I look forward to watching your progress.