Like many of the directions in this project, the directions for what I now think of as the Elusive Square I-2 refer to other directions.

Hook in hand and stash at my side, I plowed forward, imagining that today would be the day I completed all the squares that comprise the afghan-that-has-eluded-me. “Work motif same as I-1, but work rnd 6 with bright color.” I was skeptical that the directions given would work. While the photo of I-2 is not clear and crisp, it is clear enough to anyone looking that Square I-2 does not look like Square I-1. Whether or not I-2 is an elusive square is debatable, but whether or not it looks like Square I-1 is not.

With a mixture of trepidation and hope, I read the directions referenced.

With first color ch 4, sl st to first ch to form ring. [So far, so good.]

Rnd 1: Work 8sc in center of ring: join with sl st to beg sc. [Directions still correspond to what is visible in the photograph].

Rnd 2: Ch3 (counts as 1 dc) [still might be correct] 4 dc in same sc sp, drop loop from hook….

I stopped mid-stitch with this last direction. What I was reading did not correspond to what I could see. The fact that the square pictured is so small and the original designer of the square used some unusual stitch arrangements made it more challenging to figure out.

I got out my magnifying glass. When that didn’t get me as much information as I needed, I photocopied the square in question at 125% of the original, at 150% of the original, and at 400% of the original, and while I have been able to use the information gleaned from these pictures, however imperfect and blurred, to create a square that more closely approximates the photo, my square I-2 still a work in progress.

So the afghan that has eluded me for the past 12 years has managed to elude me one more day.