October 10, 2025

I have just finished the Heart House (Cabin in the Woods) motif that will eventually be used in the corners of the blanket but is also the gauge swatch.

Surprisingly, mine is slightly smaller than gauge, which is very unusual for me. I did go down .25mm, so probably could have gotten away with the recommended hook size. But the 2.75mm is one of my Clovers so a fine choice for this CAL. I wish Dedri hadn’t chosen such a complex motif for the gauge swatch since redoing it was too much loss of the time investment.

Based on the gauge motif, I think this is going to be a challenging blanket, but Dedri’s patterns are always very clearly written.

Part 1 was released 2 days ago and I’ll get started on it tonight, but I’m in no rush for this project and I do not intend to keep up with the pattern releases. It will be done when it will be done, around work, other projects, and life.

October 25, 2025

I have just finished the central motif. It’s mid-day Saturday and I hope to add the large petals to complete Part 2 this weekend. The silly day job continues to get in the way of my crafting! And on top of that, I spent a long weekend last weekend in DC visiting my oldest daughter so, as predicted, I am quite behind the releases of this CAL.

November 15, 2025

I’m now working on Part 5 of the blanket, the “lacy brook”, compared to the current release that is up to Part 7. No rush, I am planning for this to be my primary project for all of November and December and I will have more time to craft in those two months because of holidays and end of year “use my time off because I can’t roll over more than 80 hours”.

I’m starting to think about crafting strategy and goals for next year. 2024 was all about finishing languishing WIPs and being disciplined about finishing one project before going on to the next. This year, in reaction to that, was “just have fun”. Well, I guess my idea of fun is to do CALs because about half of my projects were active CALs plus one that had been a CAL in the past. I’m feeling like next year I will limit my CAL consumption.

November 28, 2025

Part 6 is off my hook now! Since there are 12 parts, I am considering the blanket half complete. The CAL is up to Part 10, which is the small triangles for the corners.

I am enjoying the pattern very much, though it is challenging and the fingering weight cotton yarn with the slightly too small hook makes it slower going than it would have been if I had chosen the DK acrylic kit.

December 13, 2025

I’m now mid-way through part 8 (of 12). Part 12 has been released and some speedy crocheters are starting to post pictures of their completed blankets, but I think, technically, part 12 is supposed to be for next week as well, ending on Christmas Eve.

I have many days off of work between now and the end of the year but I do not think I will manage to finish this in 2025. I’m trying not to focus on that and instead just enjoy the process -- it is a very lovely, challenging, and well-written pattern.

January 9, 2026

I have finished Part 9, so the blanket is 75% done and octagon achieved! Next I’m moving on to the small triangles and the remaining 3 Heart House motifs for the corners. I’ll do all of those assembly line (small triangles first).

February 28, 2026

It’s the last day of February and I’ve just completed all the motifs for Part 10. I got a bit distracted by special requests from my girls for hats and a scarf for my husband, so I neglected this on some of its designated days (Fabulous Fridays in my 2026 themed day-of-the-week rotation).

It’s Saturday, so my plan is to start joining them up (Part 11) so that by the end of the weekend I’ll be ready to start the final part which is the border. I’m so close to finishing I am neglecting my designated Saturday project (the Lili Mosaic Bag for Stash Lottery Saturday) but I’d really like to get this blanket done. I haven’t finished any blankets yet which is unusual for me at this point in a year.

It’s looking like I will have plenty of yarn!

March 16, 2026

And she’s done! These last few weeks I have barely been able to crochet because of some crazy things at work that required me to work two weekends in a row on top of super long days. What little crochet time I did have, though, I spent on finishing this blanket. I think whenever I see this blanket in the future it’s going to remind me of that extremely intense time.

I’m very proud of this blanket! I think it might actually be the most difficult blanket I’ve made (and that’s saying a lot since I’ve made over 100 in the last 10 years.) It will join Sophie’s Universe, another of Dedri’s masterpiece patterns, on my blanket ladder where I keep my favorite blanket creations.