Last month when I attended the Chain Link conference in Greensboro, North Carolina, I bought these raffle tickets:

and won this tote (courtesy of Red Heart Yarn):

The tote contained Red Heart Super Saver Chunky yarn in soft white:

buff:

and tea leaf:

along with this 10.0 mm hook:

and this pattern from Red Heart Yarns for this throw:

After a nutritious breakfast and a strong cup of coffee, I set out to determine if this project could really be completed in a weekend, Armed with the tools and materials necessary for this crochet adventure, I set to work.

The first interesting thing I encountered was at the very start. The afghan is not a square, but is actually a subtle rectangle, so the center does not begin with the usual chain 4 join with a slip stitch, but instead begins with a chain 8. Following the directions you end up with a foundation for the center clusters that looks like this:

I then proceeded following the directions until I had finished the first nine rounds:

Shortly after I finished the ninth round, I set aside my crochet and went to see George Clooney’s recent film, “The Ides of March.”

Tomorrow after lunch, I will pick up where I left off with this project, and see if I can get it done before the sun sets on this weekend and the weekend granny throw.