My first successful attempt at making the granny square named “G-1” was on March 20, 2010. I know this because I wrote a blog post about it, and today, I was looking at exactly that square and thinking “it would be nice if this square were just a touch smaller,” and then I stopped thinking and reimagined the square as if it were.
What, I wondered, would I have to do differently to preserve what felt to me like the essence of the square while, at the same time, making it smaller so that it would fit my current project plan.
I didn’t have a clear idea, but I did have a hook, a stash of yarn conveniently located within arm’s reach, and a crochet tension regulator. Not certain what I would leave in or what I would take out, I got to work.
The crochet itself went quickly, but the notes I took so that I could write a crochet pattern for the reimagined square, did not, and as I searched for the right words describe a specific crochet process, I would sometimes get sidetracked.
But sidetracked or not, I eventually got to this point which was “almost done.”

The exact right eighth round proved temporarily elusive, but eventually, after trying three things that didn’t quite work, I finally tried something that did.
As the afternoon drew to a close the fruit of all of my fussy fiddling finally came together, and the reimagined Square G-1 took shape:

Wanting to make certain that the square accomplished all my crochet goals, I took photos of it with its companion squares, first getting this overview:

and then getting this long view:

There are still more squares to be crocheted, and I will continue forward, one stitch at a time.