This post is shamelessly self-congratulatory because I finished my first ever crochet project and I am so proud of myself! I actually finished it over the Christmas holidays, truth be told, but every time I have wanted to write about it since, I couldn’t seem to take a decent photo of it. It’s weird to try to photograph something so large. Anyway I finally managed.

My mom has crocheted off and on my whole life. I discussed this a bit in my post on cleaning a vintage afghan, but basically I grew up with crocheted blankets around the house so I’ve always felt some sort of need to learn the skill one day.

Right before the pandemic began last year Mom was beginning to teach me some basics. Let me tell you friends, there is nothing more disheartening than fumbling your way through a granny square for half an hour to have your mom find a problem, yank the string, and then the whole thing just DISAPPEARS! When I began on my own at home a few months later I decided I better pick a project with a lot of basic repetition.

I didn’t really need another blanket, but I thought this would make a good starter project because it involves making a bunch of rows over and over. It would be a good opportunity to do one thing repeatedly until I got the hang of it, while learning basics such as how to hold the yarn and move your hands and such.

I picked up this book “12 Months of Crochet with RedAgape” by Mandy O’Sullivan at a local craft store because I liked several of the patterns inside and the instructions seemed detailed enough for a beginner.

I still don’t have a good understanding of things like yarn thickness and gauges, and I certainly didn’t at the time, so I just picked a thick, chunky yarn I liked and could find locally which was Bernat Blanket Yarn. I chose colors Sunsoaked and Vintage White. For this yarn, I used a US N15/10.00mm size crochet hook.

This pattern followed the corner-to-corner crochet method which essentially means you work at a diagonal across the piece. I guess the fuse beader in me was drawn to the pixelated appearance that comes from making a bunch of little squares.

Being that I had to work at a diagonal, the piece soon became too large to work on in my lap. I had to stretch the whole thing out across the bed, but that was great for winter. I would make a cup of coffee, stretch the blanket over my legs, and sip and work for hours while watching a movie. It was quite cozy!

My finished project is about 56″ square. I ordered five balls of the primary color (Sunsoaked) and two of the heart color (Vintage White) and at first I thought this would be way too much, but in the end it was just right.

I did use one of my Clover Pom-Pom Makers to create the pom-poms just like I did for the Soot Sprite keychains. This time I used the largest size (the blue), but you certainly don’t need one of those to make a pom-pom.

If you’re interested in the pattern, but don’t want to buy the book, check out the RedAgape blog, where there is a similar pattern for a corner-to-corner (C2C) crochet blanket with a star in the middle.

I could not have finished this project without many FaceTime calls with my mom, but below are links to other resources I found invaluable in case you find yourself tackling a similar project:

• Someone explaining corner-to-corner crochet and walking you slowly through the process.
• How to add in a new ball of yarn.
• How to position your hands (right-handed).
• How to weave in ends.
• How to crochet a slip stitch (sl st).

Now I’m trying to decide what to make next. Since we are headed into warmer weather I don’t really want to do a hat, scarf, or any other cold weather accessories. I might try crocheting a basket, since you can never have enough storage!