The other day when I finally joined the completed squares of the project I know think of as the Quadrant Blanket times three, I didn’t know how the project would end.

I knew that once the squares were joined, I would need to weave in the ends, and I knew that once I finished weaving in the ends, I would need to finish the edge.

I had expected that I would ruminate and try a half-dozen different treatments before settling on a suitable border.

I was wrong.

Instead, I simply borrowed from a project that had bedeviled me last year:

I first attempted the Granny Square Sampler Afghan featured on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens Crochet & Knitting in 1998.

I did not know as much about crochet then as I do now, but I knew enough to realize that even if I followed the directions perfectly, I would not get the squares promised. However, I lacked the skill or knowledge to be able to competently or accurately reverse engineer the pattern from the photos.

Fast forward to March of 2010. What a difference a decade (plus) makes. I was able to figure out how most of the afghan was made from the pictures provided, and on June 11, 2010, I at long last completed the afghan that had eluded me.

Yesterday and today, I used the same final round to finish the Quadrant Afghan times three that I had used for the Afghan-that-elude-me; a simple single crochet in each double crochet of the previous round with a single crochet in each chain-1 space to anchor a simple 3-chain picot stitch:

The Quadrant Blanket Times Three is blocked, dried, folded, and ready for delivery to a Project Linus. I know that the blanket will do more good in the life of someone in need of comfort and joy.

I was changed by this project; I learned about the power and importance of moving forward.