Crafting Ideas by Example

I often get my design or pattern ideas by looking at what others have done. This doesn't mean I use someone's copyrighted design. It has been legally decided that "ideas" cannot be copyrighted; only the precisely exact way those ideas are presented can be.

For example, a friend of mine wanted some bells for some gifts for last Christmas season. She sent me links to some that she saw online, crocheted. Well, when I looked at each design, they were so intricate, and needed cutting and re-joining several places, that I realized they would not be cost-effective for her.

In the meantime, another friend had sent me a knitted (on a loom) stand-alone (the whole towel fits into the inside loop and can be changed at whim) towel topper. It was cute. I remembered this, and went searching for patterns for something similar in crochet. When I couldn't find anything, I looked at the loom-knitted one again, and decided I could come up with something workable in crochet. I emailed my friend, asked if the towel topper idea was okay with her, told her how much each would cost to make out of cotton worsted, and she decided on 30 of them.

I have been promising to post that pattern for ages. I think I'll do it tomorrow, for sure.

Anyhow, that's one example of how we can get ideas from other shops and other projects. I've posted the photo to show the ones I finally designed myself.