In 2004, I found this piece abandoned as I walked to work:

Not absolutely certain that it didn’t belong to anyone, I walked past it for several days before I decided to take what felt like a bold step and reclaimed it. Clearly someone had put a lot of time and effort into creating the piece, and clearly, if it were not rescued, it would meet an ignominious end.

This is a truly scrap afghan, made from bits and pieces of leftover yarn that the crocheter conserved. Not one inch was wasted and if you were to look closely, you would see that the squares are joined with thread rather than yarn:

I have surmised that this was done because there wasn’t sufficient extra yardage to use joining squares.

My own scrap-ish afghans are not genuinely scrap afghans. I go out and buy my scraps in the colors and yardages of my choosing, and when I feel the design calls for more of a particular “scrap,” I buy it. So while I have created many lovely pieces with this method, my “scrap” afghans lack an authenticity this afghan has.

I don’t expect that I will ever know who created this piece, but I can tell something about the artist in the care and meticulous attention to detail used to create the afghan. I am certain that the work was made by someone who did not have the same access to materials that I do, but still the crocheter whose identity is lost to history created a work that is magical and transcendent.