Crochet pattern skill level and difficulty ratings explored

When choosing a crochet pattern, it can be helpful to know whether the skills required are already in your took kit or if you will be learning something new.

Recently I’ve been updating some of my older patterns and thinking about the most useful, consistent way to describe the challenges a crochet project may contain.

I began to wonder how the challenges involved in a pattern may be communicated in a more effective way than a simple / beginner / intermediate advanced type scale, which are open to multiple interpretations.

In this post I talk about the ‘standard’ difficulty ratings for crochet projects and the approach that I now take here at Dora Does. I also share the thoughts of crocheters I’ve spoken to on the subject about what they find most useful.

I have also written a separate article about what constitutes ‘difficulty’ when it comes to crochet projects. Initially I intended this to be part of this discussion but felt it was a stand alone topic worthy of it’s own post.

How to assess crochet pattern complexity: Standard crochet project level ratings

I’ve come to think that basic skill level type ratings can potentially be a misleading way to explain pattern difficulty. What may be a ‘beginner’ or ‘easy’ pattern for one newer crocheter may prove more of a learning curve for another.

Furthermore, if you’ve only been crocheting a short while, an intermediate rating may put you off trying a pattern that you could easily follow. I am a staunch supporter of trying anything when it comes to crochet, so this is the last thing I would want.

We all learn at different rates and find different aspects of crochet challenging. This thought is an important fact to bear in mind and is the reason it’s so hard to find a one size fits all approach.

All that said, it can be useful to have a quick-look indication of how challenging a pattern might be.

Some crochet fabrics look complex but really aren’t and some projects that look simple can be deceptively complex, so it is hard to tell how tricky a pattern might be just from looking at it.

If you’re looking to be guided by crochet project difficulty ratings then it’s important to understand what each rating actually means. The main project level rating system I see used in crochet is the Craft Yarn Council’s guidance.

Craft Yarn Council

The craft yarn council is always my first go-to when it comes to standards of anything in crochet (measurements, yarn weights etc.). Project standards are no different.

They offer project level ratings with an explanation of what each rating covers. You can read the full post here, below is a summary;

• Basic – basic stitches, possibly increases / decreases
• Easy – simple stitch patterns, colourwork and or shaping
• Intermediate – involved stitch patterns, colourwork and or shaping
• Complex – complex stitch patterns, colourwork and or shaping and a variety of techniques or stitches used simultaneously

I think this is a pretty good overall approach with clear definitions but it’s designed to cover knitting and crochet so it’s always going to be top level.

Other difficulty ratings

When listing my patterns on love crafts, I need to allocate it a skill level category with the choice of beginner, intermediate, advanced. The definitions are given for knitting only and, having explored the site a little, I cannot find them publicly available.

However, overall, the definitions echo those of the craft yarn council, with the easy and basic categories being merged. I share this for those of you who like to browse and buy patterns on love crafts.

I have seen some yarn brands using similar skill level ratings on their patterns too. Some using the craft yarn council standards, others using generic terms.

I had a look on ravelry, which is another go-to platform when looking for industry standards.

I found it interesting to note that they do not offer the choice of a skill level category, but they offer a list of techniques and attributes used in a particular pattern,. These range from common techniques (think cables, granny squares, fillet crochet etc.) to construction method and colourwork.

You can also use these attributes as a search term, which is incredibly useful if you’re looking for a pattern that uses a specific technique (or if you want to avoid one!).

This approach of giving specific details of the techniques used in a pattern feels like it gives the most useful information to makers. It is the closest approach to the one I finally settled on for my own patterns.

How do you want to see difficulty / skill level communicated?

Whilst in the midst of this skill level / category rabbit hole, I asked the instagram community their thoughts on difficulty ratings.

The feedback I got was that people do like to have a rating of some sort to indicate how involved a pattern might be, but the typical beginner, intermediate advanced options were not so popular.

There were a couple of things that came up repeatedly. Crocheters wanted to know how involved a pattern was (could they make it in front of the TV), and what stitches were used so that they knew if they had used them before.

Essentially, crocheters want to know specifically what’s involved in a pattern so they can make their own assessment on whether the project matches their experience and mental bandwidth budget.

This resonated strongly with me and I was relieved to know that I was on the same lines with my own approach.

How dora does approaches difficulty rating

Over my design career the way I describe pattern difficulty has changed. A pattern that is easy for me, may not be easy for a beginner. Yet I can’t help but assess difficulty through my own frame of reference.

Without a clear cut exhaustive definition of what ’easy’ means, it’s hard to remove my experience from this decision. I realised this pretty quickly.

As my pattern writing experience grew, I added a skills needed / skill level section to them, outlining the techniques and stitches they used.

The more I thought about this idea of skill levels, the less restrictive or off-putting I wanted it to be. so I started to used the term ’Skills Used’ instead.

It may seem like semantics or splitting hairs but I don’t like the term ‘skill level’ for the reasons of ambiguity already discussed.

The term ‘skills needed’ seems a bit exclusive as it suggests you have to have the skills before you start. Whereas I believe that part of the joy of trying a new pattern is learning those skills as you go. So it’s important for me that my language is encouraging.

(Side note that some of my older patterns may still say skill level or skills needed… I’m working through updating them all!)

The purpose of this Skill Used section is to give you enough information so you can decide for yourself if the pattern is suitable for your existing experience or an opportunity to learn something new.  

“Crocheters want to know specifically what’s involved in a pattern so they can make their own assessment on whether a project matches their experience and mental bandwidth budget.”

I list the main stitches or stitch patterns used (I’ve had a lot of feedback that this is helpful) and other crochet techniques that the pattern uses.

So for example, it might say something like ‘simple stitches, working in rows and rounds, increasing and decreasing, working in back loops’. 

I have a separate section in the pattern that covers construction method if applicable too. Special stitches )i.e. those beyond the basic single, double, treble) are always described in the pattern with a link to a tutorial if I have one.

In all of my patterns, I assume knowledge of basic stitches and techniques – this includes the main crochet stitches, things like changing colour at row or round ends, fastening off, weaving in ends and essential pattern reading skills.

On occasion I specify that a pattern is intermediate. I usually add this to patterns where precision stitch placement is an important factor. So I don’t use standard terms regularly but find they can be useful if I think something requires that extra bit of understanding / experience.

Essentially, I outline the areas I think it’s important to know to decide whether you have, or are willing to learn the specific skills a pattern uses. Because that’s your call to make, not mine!

I also offer a summary of this skills used section in the pattern description too (because you want to know before you buy the pattern). But if you’re ever unsure if a pattern is suitable for your skill level then you can always drop me a line for clarification.

I hope you find this useful and I always welcome feedback on how my patterns can be made more user friendly, so please do drop me a line if you think something is missing.

Happy Hooking

Dx