Evidence of Hard Challenges

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Not So Intelligent

Anyone who has followed me for the last couple of years or so knows I often use AI now to illustrate some of my blog posts because, as a full-time caregiver, I just don't get to go out and photograph the world anymore. I miss the photograpahy and exploration like crazy. I still get out when I can. But, unfortunately, sometimes I can't find a real photo in my extensive collection to properly illustrate something I'm writing about. (And I still do NOT use AI to generate my prose. I write every single post that has ever been published here on Snowcatcher, and I don't plan to ever incorporate AI-generated text.)

I also follow a few social media sites that post nothing but AI crochet. It annoys me because so many people who follow such sites have no clue the content is not real, and many are scammed on a daily basis. I enjoy the AI crochet inspiration; I often can create something similar to any AI crochet I see. But I would never, ever, try to pass off an AI image as real. It really irks me that other content producers have no such scruples.

The above video is one of the best I've seen to date (and I've viewed MANY), and I am anxious to share it with you here to help you begin to see the difference between AI and real and to let you know you are not alone if you've been duped. To help you build confidence if you've been duped and feel like you've failed because the AI-generated instructions make no sense and/or you cannot make your work look like what the picture shows.

Crochet is supposed to be fun, relaxing, inspiring, healing and validating. It can be that if content creators quit investing in get-rich-quick schemes. We know that's not going to happen. So let's do what we can on our part and not fall for the hogwash. Enjoy viewing it. Be inspired. But please don't buy into fake crochet.

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Just Humming...

I recently dreamed I had two hummingbirds in my kitchen. I dreamed I found them because I was up in the middle of the night, which was when they'd try to sip from the kitchen sink, undiscovered. In my dream, I discreetly put out some nectar for them, which they immediately began to consume. I told Lizard I needed to go to the local grocery store to buy some flowers so they could have real food until summer. And then Lizard woke me. In real life. End of extremely pleasant dream.

Just the day before, in real life, I'd told Lizard I needed to go to the local grocery store to buy flowers for my neighbor for her birthday. She and her husband have been such angels in our lives.

I also am frequently up in the middle of the night, thanks to Parkinson's. So that part of the dream wasn't unusual at all. Oh, and that particular night, the sink was indeed full of dishes, which were full of (clean) water, from which hummingbirds would have been able to safely dine.

But where did the hummingbirds come fom??? There are no hummingbirds in Colorado right now! At least not live and flower-sipping!

I think I figured it out. My sister-in-law gifted us the cutest little beaded hummingbird for Christmas. She didn't know we no longer have a Christmas tree. Too much of a tripping hazard. Yet this little guy is so adorable, I have to keep it on display. It's currently hanging from the snowflake stocking hanger on our bookshelf. We keep our snowflake decor out all year. Proudly.

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I decided this dream would be perfect blog fodder. I enlisted AI to generate some hummers-in-the-dirty-dishes images to illustrate this post. I was pretty disappointed with most of the results. Deformed hummingbirds. Hummingbirds spewing water from their mouths over sinks with no faucets. Faucets trickling onto sinkless counters.

As a result, I took my little beaded hummer out for a tour of its new surroundings. Sometimes, real life is better than AI!

Hummer Meets Lavender

Kokopelli Hummer

Dieter and Wolfgang haven't been out of their Altoid box in years!

too cold for me

We can fly!

Oh, look! Lunch!!!

Well, hello...

Are there flowers somewhere underneath all these butterflies?

perfect size

Man, why all the snowflakes in this place?!?

Aaah, real food, at last!

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Too much inspiration

Way too little time!

I think it may have been a bit too long since I've done anything like this. Either crafting OR a list of inspirational links.

I had no idea fruit-carving is a thing.

Can't read the language, but love this project.

I get SO inspired by AI crochet. There are so many fake amigurumis floating around the internet (with drooling crocheters clamoring for patterns) that I would just love to make. And publish free patterns, of course!

I'm thinking this is great inspiration for a snowflake tree skirt. Don't you think???

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Friday Fascination

It's all AI (Artificial Intelligence), and it's fake crochet. But it's crochet inspiration, too. To me...

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Make a Snowflake Day

Welcome to our Ninth Annual Snowflake Ball! I plan to have a ball! With crochet thread and hook, of course.

I spent a bit of time in AI (artificial intelligence) trying to generate something fun to share today. I don't know about you, but I get pretty annoyed by all the crazy "amigurumi" posts on social media that are being passed off as real crochet work and linked to some scam or virus-loaded website. I can't believe people are actually fooled by AI, and yet, I realize there are many, many people out there who have no idea what AI is or that it can render fake crochet. Or fake knitting. Or fake sunrises... Fake anything, actually.

I'm annoyed purveyors of fake crochet are trying to pass it off as real and trying to trick less-experienced artisans into thinking there is a pattern. You've seen what I'm referring to, right?

As annoyed as I am by fake crochet, I am, however, inspired by some of what I see. I decided to create some AI crochet of my own, not only to educate and help crocheters worldwide know not to click links to patterns that are just too good to be true, but also to inspire me. As far as I know, AI creations can't be copyrighted. But I plaster my logo across everything I create because I know these types of images frequently are stolen, then passed off as real. I don't want what I create to be used to fool or rip off people, so I'm doing what I can to try to prevent and educate.

I actually can attempt to crochet some of the AI work I've seen, and I can write real patterns for real crochet I design. I'm sure there are others out there who can do likewise, and I hope our Snowflake Ball will help crocheters learn to discern what is real and safe and what is not. When you see wonderfully "photographed" (no shadows, or shadows in the wrong place for apparent lighting) and unbelievable crochet, it likely isn't real crochet. Look at the stitches closely. Most expecially, count things like legs and fingers. Look closely at hands. As Hooked By Kati says, there will be no project history. Wouldn't you photograph every step of the project if you created something like any of the above fake creations??? If you pay close attention to the details, you will begin to develop a feel for AI, and soon you will know at a glance when something fake is being passed off as real.

Believe it or not, some of the best snowflake crochet inspiration I came up with was generated using the term "in the style of Snowcatcher snowflakes." I couldn't believe how many six-point flakes I got!!! (AI cannot count.) (Yet.)

Every time I try generating anything snowflake-related in AI, I always get a bunch of 7-pointers, even when I stick Snowcatcher in the prompt. I can't really be too frustrated because, as I've often said, my mom is the mother of seven kids. I made 50 7-point snowflakes to celebrate her 50th wedding anniversary. I think I need to crochet some of the 7-pointers I've obtained via AI to gift my mom. I think that would be pretty special to her!

I plan to do some more designing using the AI renderings I created to help celebrate today. So stay tuned, and I'll have more patterns for some of this fun stuff in the future!

I celebrated our Snowflake Ball a few days early by packaging more snowflakes for Operation Ornaments. The organization currently is sending donated handmade ornaments to survivors of Typhoon Mawar in Guam. I forgot to take pictures, but the sister missionaries in my area came over to help me string and package 100 snowflakes, which I mailed yesterday. I still have plenty more (Plus, I keep making more!) for whatever disaster area is chosen next.

Yes, Tundra is going to Guam!

Tundra is such a cute little snowflake, I'm sure I will make many more. Maybe even for the grandkids this Christmas! Wow, 29 of them!!! Can I pull that off??? I also came up with some great ideas while working up this pattern, so I may have to share some wonderful Tundra variations in the coming weeks.

You may do whatever you'd like with snowflakes you make from this pattern, but you may not sell or republish the pattern. Thanks, and enjoy!

Finished Size: 4 inches from point to point
Materials: Size 10 crochet thread in two or more colors (I used black and white), 2 beads (I used size 6mm black beads), a tiny bit of stuffing, size 7 crochet hook, empty pizza box, wax paper or plastic wrap, cellophane tape, water soluble school glue or desired stiffener, water, glitter, small container for glue/water mixture, paintbrush, stick pins that won't be used later for sewing, clear thread or fishing line

Polar Bear Backing Disk

Make magic ring.

Round 1: 6 sc in ring; do not join on this or any of the following Rounds. Pull magic circle tight.

Round 2: 2 sc in each sc around for a total of 12 sc.

Round 3: [1 sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc] 6 times for a total of 18 sc.
If you're not reading this pattern on Snowcatcher, you're not reading the designer's blog. Please go here to see the original.

Round 4: [2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in each of next 2 sc] 6 times for a total of 24 sc.

Rounds 5-7: 1 sc in each sc around, increasing 6 times, evenly spaced, taking care not to work increases directly above increases of previous Round, for totals of 30, 36 and 42 sc; bind off. Weave in ends.

Tundra Snowflake Instructions

Beginning at nose tip with black and leaving a long tail with which to embroider mouth, make magic ring.

Round 1: [3 sc and 3 hdc in ring] 2 times; bind off leaving a long tail for mouth embroidery at completion of project. Pull magic circle tight.

Round 2: With white, 1 sc in 1st sc of either 3/sc group (and that side of piece will be the top of the bear's head), 3 sc in next sc, 1 sc in each of remaining 10 st for a total of 14 st; do not join. NOTE: The following 7 Rounds may or may not stop or start at the official end or beginning of each Round. That is intentional for stitch count purposes. It is not a mistake.

Round 3: [1 sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc] 2 times, 1 sc in each of next 10 sc for a total of 16 st.
If you're not reading this pattern on Snowcatcher, you're not reading the designer's blog. Please go here to see the original.

Round 4: [1 sc in each of next 2 sc, 2 sc in next sc] 5 times for a total of 21 sc. NOTE: The bear head is not rocket science. Don't stress about stitch count. You will need a multiple of 6 st by the end of Round 8, and until then, you can make up however many stitches you are missing each Round at the top of the head without messing up the shape.

Round 5: 1 sc in each of next 2 st, [2 sc in next st, 1 sc in each of next 3 st] 4 times for a total of 26 sc. NOTE: I paused here to use the black starting tail to embroider a T-shape on the bottom of the bear head as shown below, ending up with both tails on the inside of the head, then tied a knot with the two black tails.

Round 6: [1 sc in each of next 4 st, 2 sc in next sc] 4 times; 1 sc in each of next 8 sc for a total of 30 sc (divisible by 6!).

Round 7: [2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in each of next 4 sc] 6 times; 1 sc in each of next 4 sc for a total of 36 sc. NOTE: I paused here to attach beads for eyes as shown below.

Round 8: [2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in each of next 5 sc] 6 times for a total of 42 sc.

Round 9: Place Polar Bear Backing Disk across back of face and join, working 1 sc in each face and backing sc all the way around, pausing to stuff lightly before closing opening. Sl st in starting joining sc. You should be just above left eye (the polar bear's left eye, on the right side as you are looking at it face on). If you are not quite there, sl st to that position. If you are higher on forehead, sl st to the top center of head.

Round 10: Ch 8 (counts as 1 sc and [ch 7), sk next 6 sc, 1 sc in next sc, ch 5, 1 sc in same sc] 5 times; ch 7, 1 sc in same sc as Round 9 sl st, ch 2, 1 tr in 1st ch of starting ch 10 to form 6th ch 5 tip of Round. If you don't have 42 sc on Round 9, adjust skipped sc as necessary to place ch 10 points evenly spaced around face as shown below. (I wound up 2 single crochet short on my prototype, even though I had the proper number of stitches in both the disk and the face. I skipped 5 single crochet on each of the bottom two sequences to keep the bottom spoke directly below the nose.)

Round 11: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 2 dc over post of tr directly below, 1 hdc in same sp, 1 sc in same sp, [7 sc in next ch 7 sp, in next ch 5 tip work (1 sc, 1 hdc, 3 dc, ch 3, * 3 dc, 1 hdc, 1 sc)] 6 times, ending * on final repeat; sl st in 2nd ch of starting ch 2. NOTE: Binding off here makes a cute little flake.

Round 12: Ch 1 (counts as 1 sc), 1 sc in each of next 2 st, [ch 3, sl st in sc just worked, 1 sc in each of next 2 st, sk next 2 sc, 1 sc in next sc, in next sc work (1 hdc, 1 dc, 1 hdc), 1 sc in next sc, sk next 2 sc, 1 sc in each of next 3 st, ch 3, sl st in sc just made, 1 sc in each of next 2 st, in next ch 3 tip work (sl st, ch 2, 3 dc, ch 2, sl st), 1 sc in each of next 3 st] 6 times, omitting last 3 sc of final repeat; sl st in starting ch 1; bind off. Weave in ends.

Finish: NOTE: I did not glitter this snowflake. Stiffening on this snowflake is optional.

I've been stiffening my flakes with undiluted, full-strength water soluble school glue for quite a while now, and I've been squishing the glue onto and throughout each flake with my fingers (yucky mess!!!) instead of gingerly painting the flakes with glue. Yes, it's a mess. But it's faster. And stiffer. For this snowflake, I massaged glue gently into flake spokes, not on the polar bear head.

Tape wax paper or plastic wrap to top of empty pizza box. Pin snowflake to box on top of wax paper or plastic wrap.

Allow snowflake to dry at least 24 hours. Remove pins. Gently peel snowflake from wax paper or plastic wrap. Attach 10-inch clear thread to one spoke, weaving in end. Wrap fishing line around tree branch (or tape to ceiling or any overhead surface) and watch snowflake twirl freely whenever you walk by! Snowflake also may be taped to window or tied to doorknob or cabinet handle.

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