One of the first crochet projects I ever attempted was the Granny Square Sampler Afghan featured on pages 86-91 of Better Homes and Gardens Crocheting & Knitting. I came across the remnants of my first attempt at this project while readying my home for the carpet cleaner.

In order to clear as much furniture and household debris as I could, I had to make space in my yarn annex to store the excess from the upstairs rooms. In doing so, I cam across a plastic bag filled with the squares I had begun in 1998.

This was as far as I got:

From a distance, it doesn’t look too bad, but on closer inspection,

you can see that I didn’t really understand tension, and the edges ruffled more than was useful.

This highlights some other beginner errors, not the least of which was not leaving a tail long enough for weaving in ends.

While the pattern calls for the finished product to consist of 39 assorted squares and rectangles with borders that frame various squares and give the finished piece definition, I only made 21 of the squares needed. Given my then extremely limited pattern reading skills, the squares I did finish tended to be smaller and less complicated than what remained.

And because I never have enough unfinished projects, I have decided that I will start over with this afghan, making one square a day until it is done.