The Footprints in the Sand poem always makes me cry. Someone left a copy in my hospital room after I gave birth to my first child, and with all of the happiness and hormones flowing, I sobbed at the poem’s reminder of those who have carried us through tough times and whom we often take for granted.

Parents who never give up on us, the doctor who cures our ear infection, the plumber who saves us from a sewer backup, the mechanic who figures out why our car has been stalling…..I could go on and on. We all like to think that we can do everything by ourselves, and I am a prime example. On my home page, I describe myself as a “self-taught crocheter,” but that really isn’t true. Many people have “carried” me as I learned to crochet.

The book 10•20•30 Minutes to Learn to Crochet by Leisure Arts gave me my start, and YouTubers like Marly Bird, Blossom Crochet, Chasing SunRaee, and the late—and lovely and encouraging—Melanie Ham kept me going with cool projects and excellent tutorials. And there is absolutely no way that I could have made the Crochet Texture Lap Blanket Pattern from Yarnspirations shown in the photo at the beginning of this post without the video tutorial from Mikey at The Crochet Crowd.

If Mikey’s video hadn’t shown me how to do the arrow stitch, I never would have figured it out on my own. The written instructions made absolutely no sense to me. Before I found his video online, there was a lot of frogging (think rip it, rip it) and frustration. The worst part was feeling stupid that I couldn’t understand the directions. That’s such a horrible feeling, right?

So, here’s to Mikey. According to his online biography, he learned to crochet from his Mom when he was a teenager. As he progressed and wanted to learn more, he bought crochet books at the craft store. And since every origin story needs a villain, Mikey had the misfortune to run into a craft store clerk that made him feel like boys shouldn’t crochet. So, he hid his talent until he discovered YouTube in 2008, and now he is carrying millions of us along as our online crochet coach.

I’m so grateful that I found Mikey’s tutorial, and I hope that this post, and the instructions below on how I made my version of the blanket, helps inspire the next project in your crochet journey too.

Instructions
Crochet Texture Lap Blanket Pattern from Yarnspirations
Video Tutorial from Mikey at The Crochet Crowd
My blanket measured approximately 27.5″ wide x 35″ long
6 skeins Lion Brand Jeans Yarn in Stonewash
1 skein Lion Brand Jeans Yarn in Vintage
K 6.5 mm Crochet Hook
My starting chain was 96 stitches long, and I single crocheted in the back loop of the foundation chain to make the first row.
To make my edging, I did 2 rounds of single crochet instead of one as described in the pattern and finished with the final round in reverse single crochet.

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