Do you suffer from crochet fear? Do you find yourself paralysed, unable to use that beautiful yarn in your stash for fear of wasting it? Are you unable to tackle that seemingly simple crochet project for fear of failure? I think these feelings are universal. This is the story of how I overcame some of those fears.
I hear designers claiming that they are inspired by a particular yarn or stitch to create something. For me it is usually need that drives my designs. If I want to make something then the first thing I do is to go and look for a pattern. So what do you do when there is no pattern for what you want? Well then you have to make one of your own!
When I was young, teachers and parents used to tell us to sit properly and not to slouch. I thought it was just nice manners, just like not talking with your mouth full and not putting your elbows on the table. Now that I am older I realise the importance of good posture especially when crocheting. So I need a footstool. But I want a practical footstool that will slip out of sight when not in use. After discussing it with my practical partner he produced a little wooden box of just the right height with a tilting top.
I sewed and stuffed a little cushion for the top. Then nothing else happened because I was seized with crochet fear! By talking through the problem I had inadvertently created
a brief for myself. I wanted the cushion to be removable so that it could
be washed. It followed that the cover should also be washable and with a dense stitch. Being a champion procrastinator I spent many happy hours flicking though Stitch dictionaries and making lists of stitches. Eventually I got round to making a number swatches.
Procrastinating some more I dug through my stash and found some 'thick and thin' yarn I'd been given. I had never known what to do with it. It seemed to me that this might work well with one of my swatches; a simple repetition of just two stitches, double crochet and treble. (Sc&Dc-US). The treble stitches are crunched up short and create a textured fabric. 
At this point I ran out of a plan. I had an idea that I should make a panel to cover the top of the cushion and then decrease down the sides, but I hadn't really thought it through and it didn't really work. It is held on to the sides of the stool with press studs.
I could have thrown up my hands in disgust, I was so cross with myself. Making it up as I went along hadn't worked so I finally got round to thinking the problem through. I made a plan. I would make a cushion cover in the same shape as the cushion; a top panel, with straight sides and then add some slip stitch ribbing to hold the cover to the base. I had all the dimensions so I could work out a proper pattern. 
I went shopping for the most suitable yarn. I wanted something hard wearing and what is more hard wearing than denim? I like the fact that this crochet stitch has a texture and doesn't look like normal crochet. The thick and thin yarn I had used before produced a mottled effect that I think suits the texture, so I looked for something to replicate that.
I made and weighed a swatch so that I could work out exactly how much yarn I needed. I could work out exactly how many rows and how many stitches it would take.
I made the top panel in rows. At this point, without fastening off I continued in the same stitch pattern, crocheting around the edge to create the sides of the cushion shape. I worked in rounds with one stitch for each row and no extra stitches at the corners.
I finished it off with those stretchy slip stitches to form a cuff which holds the cover to the stool.
It worked out exactly as planned!!! OK so it took a bit of getting there but knowing I got there all by myself feels good. I now have a unique, hand crafted footstool, tailored to my exact requirements! (I also have a spare cover for when this one is in the wash!!😳)
fastening off...
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