Something I would do differently now

Pattern: lionbrand.com

I'm not the typical crafter, and I don't have a lot of work-in-progress projects lying around very often. Typically, when I sit down to start something, I finish it. I don't like to have unfinished projects.

But this one is haunting me currently. A couple of years ago, I bought the kit to make this best-in-show blanket from the Lion Brand website. It came with the pattern and all the supplies that I would need.

Now, this was probably over three years ago, and I had never made a throw blanket before, so I didn't really know what I was doing. I really loved this pattern; I loved the colors, and I thought I would give it a shot.

Jumping Into a Corner-to-Corner Dog Blanket Blind

I'll be honest, I had no idea what I was doing. I'd never made a project this size. I'd never done the techniques that they were talking about for each of the squares.

It's a corner-to-corner blanket, which I hadn't ever done, and I still don't use very often. It has a lot of color changes and a lot of different things to look for to make the different features for each one of the dogs.

I just jumped in blind. I googled a few things, I watched a few things on YouTube, and you can see here from my pictures that there are tails everywhere. I was very much figuring it out on the fly, but because I'd never done something like this, I didn't know the details to look for.

I wasn't using the correct technique to not end up with a bunch of tails and to change colors correctly using the tapestry technique. I wasn't blocking my squares, so they were either coming out way too tight or way too loose, and they weren't matching up. I wasn't keeping track of the rows I was in, and it was becoming very confusing to read the patterns.

(Pictured here with my dog Kopper)

Three Squares and a Closet for Three Years

And what happened is that I became extremely frustrated. It was taking me longer than I thought it would. I didn't like sewing in all the ends.

Spoiler alert: I was not doing this the correct way. I shouldn't have ended up with as many tails as I did, but I wasn't using the correct techniques to avoid this.

And I got really frustrated. I made these three squares that you can see pictured here, and I walked away. These have sat in my closet for over three years now.

I don't like unfinished projects, and I really, really love to finish this blanket. In those years, I've jumped off the cliff, and I've made a bunch of throw blankets since. I've made seasonal throw blankets, I've made holiday throw blankets, and I've made regular granny square throw blankets that you can use on the couch.

Now my confidence in making blankets is much higher than it was all those years ago.

Tapestry Crochet, Blocking, and Better Tension

Because I've made all the other blankets, I've learned a bunch of different techniques that I didn't know back then. I know how to do tapestry crochet. I know how to change colors better.

I know how to block my squares so that they end up being the same shape and size. I know how to hold my tension better and what hooks to use to make sure that happens.

I can figure out how to make corners and sew squares together nicely so they lay correctly. And I've just grown as a crocheter in the last three years. Everybody can say anything they're doing now; they're much better at it than they were a couple of years ago.

So I think I've just become a more polished crafter in general.

Starting the Dog Blanket Over From Scratch

Here's my pledge. I am starting this blanket over. I do not want to finish the rest of the squares now, knowing what I know, because I think they will look more polished and more well put together.

And these three original squares would probably stick out like a sore thumb. I think you'd be able to very clearly tell the old, unpolished squares that I've made versus the new, nice, well-made squares, and I don't think the blanket would look great together. It's my goal.

I'm going to reorder the supplies I need from whatever yarn I had already used, and I'm going to start this over from scratch.

I'm going to keep these three squares, though, because I like to keep my projects that I've done previously so that I can pull them out and look at how far I've come over the years. It's really fun to look back and think, oh my gosh, I have become so much more detail-oriented. I can finish things better.

They just look more polished and more professional every time I do them.

So I'm going to hang on to the old three squares so that I can compare them to the new ones. Mark my words. Hopefully, I'll have an update for you here in several months with a new progress report on the blanket, and I will get it finished in 2027.