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I love crochet diagrams. They’re a great, visual way of showing how a crochet design comes together. Some magazines and books include them and some don’t. Every wonder why? My guess is that the decision often comes down to cost.
Cost of creating the diagram: There really is no quick and easy software to create professional diagrams. Most professional tech editors I know who do diagrams use vector drawing programs like Adobe Illustrator to hand draw the diagrams. Even a basic shawl design can take an experienced tech editor up to 4 hrs to diagram. Tech editing generally goes for $25-$45 an hour, so you’re talking about adding up to $120 in cost for one pattern. For most patterns that’s probably closer to the $60-80 range, but when you multiply that times the number of patterns in a magazine or book….it adds up.
Cost of printing the diagram: Most magazines and books need to stay within a certain page limit. More pages cost more money. While some projects only need small diagrams, many others can generate enough diagrams to fill a whole page, or more!
While I can see how the cost can dissuade certain publications, I’m very happy that an increasing large number of crochet publications are working to make it happen. I think the increasing prevalence of crochet diagrams is a great thing.
I have a love hate relationship with diagrams. I usually don’t bother looking at diagrams because they make my head swim. Recently ran into a situation where I did find the diagram very helpful, but there was no schematic. No sizing information was given
except for the finished bust size. I would have a preferred the schematic in this case.
If putting a diagram in is going to mean omitting other important information I would prefer the diagram be left out.
Ouch! No schematic?! That’s definitely not good. A schematic should be standard for any garment pattern. They really take very little time to work up from a graphics point of view.
I agree with you- crochet diagrams should be in addition to, not in lieu of, other information.