Down Memory Lane

When I was a little girl (around 4 or 5) I started staying with my great grandmother during the week. At the time it was my single mom and I as her and my father split up before I started walking. In our family though there is a great support system and since my mom and I moved apartments frequently the best course of action for schooling was to use my great grandmother's address. I stayed with her during the week and came home on the weekends. Surprisingly this was the perfect arrangement for all parties involved and it stayed this way pretty much until my great grandmother passed away. With the exception of right after high school (I moved in with my mom & stepdad for about a year which was a BAD idea) I want to say I lived there for approx. 20 years.

This arrangement helped me a lot. My great grandmother was a teacher when she was younger and always was ready to do arts & crafts with me, teach me reading, math, help with random homework and most of all...she taught me how to knit. Ok, so she taught me how about three or four times over the course of my life because I couldn't stay with it too long, but every time I started I picked it up right away. She also taught me crocheting because you can't have one without the other. In fact, the primary thing she knitted were dish cloths/rags and you can't call it finished without crocheting the borders.

When she passed away I thought it was only fitting to continue her dish cloth/rag tradition. Every Christmas she gave them to all the families as gifts and during our first Christmas without her I couldn't just NOT do it. It was a coping mechanism for me and to this day I do it every year.

So I know the basics. I've made some scarves, even a blanket...but after a certain point I became stuck. When I was little she made my cousin and I these blankets and to this day it stays in bed with me. It's the most comfortable blanket ever and I think every baby/child should have one. This is what brings me to my current dilemma.

I started this blanket for my cousin's baby about a year and a half ago. I love the colors and design of it but secretly? I messed it up, royally. I was new to more than the most basic crocheting and I flubbed some spots meaning I had to make the same flubs every time afterwards. This in turn made me put it away never to be seen again.

Until today. I decided to rip it and start over and I've done two rows so far. And of course? I'm off by two stitches. What do I do? Do I just remember to reduce by two stitches every time? Do I rip it and start all over again? Or do I rip and start again and add to more stitches from the beginning? Life is so complicated.