My First Graph!

Yesterday, June 26th, I finished my first ever graph! It was intimidating, it was hard work, it was fun, it was crazy and it was sooo worth it! I loved going back and forth with each flip of the blanket and getting to see more and more of the picture come together!

Approximately a year ago I asked Hatch-ed With Love to create a custom graph pattern for me of a picture that I found on a clip-art stock site. The puppy in the picture looked A LOT like my brother and his wife's dog, OJ! I had every intention of making it for them for Christmas 2013 but life happened and I finally got it started on May 20, 2014!

I kept track of my progress on the graph and I found that I could do 4-5 rows per hour. After about 50 rows I realized it was going to be a real, super, mega pain in the butt to be turning and turning and turning for 262 rows and untangling the yarn with every turn! So I had a brain wave and came up with this genius idea - if I do say so myself ;) - instead of turning my work horizontally, I would flip it vertically! So instead of having to sort out all of the yarn with each turn, all I had to do was move myself from one side to the other and keep on going! I think that played a HUGE part in how I was able to get this done as quickly as I did!

Since it was my first graph I had no idea what I was doing! I just decided to wing it. The back of my graph looks pretty messy, not gonna lie, with all the dropping, picking up, not carrying and fastening off or weaving in the ends. I will be getting my mom to help me sew a fabric backing onto the blanket to make it prettier!

I decided to do a very simple white border of 2 rows of single crochet stitches to keep it basic, sleek and clean lined! Before adding the border the blanket measured 200 x 262 rows, equalling 4 feet 8 inches across by 5 feet 2 inches long! Approximately 52,500 single crochet stitches in approximately 70 hours over 5 weeks! I'm super proud of how it turned out!

If you have been following my facebook page for the past year you might remember OJ. He is the beloved 5 year old Red Nosed American Bulldog belonging to my brother, Steve, and his wife, Amanda. Almost a year ago, OJ had an accident while getting off his bed that caused him to suffer a case of FCE - where the blood flow to his spine was halted causing temporary paralysis of his hind legs and tail.

When this happened, I decided to utilize Forever Stitchin and my pattern sales as a way to help with the crazy bills that accumulate from fur babies getting hurt. I was able to raise over $300 to help towards the cost of OJ's aqua therapy costs.

Almost a year later OJ is doing great - he's able to walk, run and jump again! You can follow OJ on Instagram ;) Thank you to everyone who had a part in helping me help OJ!

This blanket will be their birthday present for this year, I am so excited to give it to them!!