Customer Reviews
I loved the end result. I even loved the process of making it. So many of the squares came out way better IRL than they looked in the pictures on the pattern. I kept being pleasantly surprised the whole way through. And I really loved the color palette. (I swapped two of the colors out, but Heartland is the perfect yarn for this project.)
My one gripe is that the pattern could really have used tighter editing. (For context, I’d been crocheting for exactly one year when I made this blanket and had approximately 115 patterns under my belt at that point. And I mostly did those projects by reading patterns, only occasionally referring to video tutorials to clear things up or get a visual demonstration if I was confused. So still plenty of room to grow, but not a rank beginner.)
Steps were frequently not clear, and were even occasionally incorrect. However, between the video tutorials on his YouTube page and the one year of experience, I was able to figure out anything that was wrong or unclear. So it was still doable. And I learned a TON. Both because of new techniques and stitches that were intentionally taught by the designer and by having to troubleshoot whenever there was an error or lack of clarity.
This was not the easiest pattern to follow, but I really liked my end result. For my colors, I kept the Kings Canyon, Acadia, and Yosemite, but I substituted Petrified Forest for Bryce Canyon and substituted Grand Canyon for Coral Reef.
Background info: I hit my one-year anniversary of learning to crochet while making this blanket. But during that year, I averaged 2-3 hours of crochet a day and have completed around 120 patterns, so I managed to get fit in a fair bit of experience into the year. That said, this was the most I’ve struggled reading a pattern. Sometimes the wording just wasn’t clear, sometimes it didn’t make sense on paper but was fine when I trusted the process (so, user error), and sometimes it truly was wrong. The impression I got was that he didn’t have any testers or a second set of eyes for technical editing. But either way, between the written pattern and the video tutorials on his YouTube channel, my one-year/120-pattern’s worth of experience was enough to be able to figure it out every time I hit a snag.
I used a zigzag slip stitch to join, and I tweaked the border a bit as well. All in all, this was a great blanket to learn a variety of techniques that were new to me. It was fascinating how varied the different the fabrics really were from all the different stitches.
I like that they send information about the person who wrote the pattern, it's humanizing.
Mr. Strong is the king of blankets; his clever designs from mandala to log cabin and an array in between are colorful and varied. I’ve purchased several of his kits from Lion brand and am working on one now. Kudos, Mr. Strong!
It’s nice to learn a little about the people behind the patterns
Customer Reviews
I loved the end result. I even loved the process of making it. So many of the squares came out way better IRL than they looked in the pictures on the pattern. I kept being pleasantly surprised the whole way through. And I really loved the color palette. (I swapped two of the colors out, but Heartland is the perfect yarn for this project.)
My one gripe is that the pattern could really have used tighter editing. (For context, I’d been crocheting for exactly one year when I made this blanket and had approximately 115 patterns under my belt at that point. And I mostly did those projects by reading patterns, only occasionally referring to video tutorials to clear things up or get a visual demonstration if I was confused. So still plenty of room to grow, but not a rank beginner.)
Steps were frequently not clear, and were even occasionally incorrect. However, between the video tutorials on his YouTube page and the one year of experience, I was able to figure out anything that was wrong or unclear. So it was still doable. And I learned a TON. Both because of new techniques and stitches that were intentionally taught by the designer and by having to troubleshoot whenever there was an error or lack of clarity.
This was not the easiest pattern to follow, but I really liked my end result. For my colors, I kept the Kings Canyon, Acadia, and Yosemite, but I substituted Petrified Forest for Bryce Canyon and substituted Grand Canyon for Coral Reef.
Background info: I hit my one-year anniversary of learning to crochet while making this blanket. But during that year, I averaged 2-3 hours of crochet a day and have completed around 120 patterns, so I managed to get fit in a fair bit of experience into the year. That said, this was the most I’ve struggled reading a pattern. Sometimes the wording just wasn’t clear, sometimes it didn’t make sense on paper but was fine when I trusted the process (so, user error), and sometimes it truly was wrong. The impression I got was that he didn’t have any testers or a second set of eyes for technical editing. But either way, between the written pattern and the video tutorials on his YouTube channel, my one-year/120-pattern’s worth of experience was enough to be able to figure it out every time I hit a snag.
I used a zigzag slip stitch to join, and I tweaked the border a bit as well. All in all, this was a great blanket to learn a variety of techniques that were new to me. It was fascinating how varied the different the fabrics really were from all the different stitches.
I like that they send information about the person who wrote the pattern, it's humanizing.
Mr. Strong is the king of blankets; his clever designs from mandala to log cabin and an array in between are colorful and varied. I’ve purchased several of his kits from Lion brand and am working on one now. Kudos, Mr. Strong!
It’s nice to learn a little about the people behind the patterns