Tomorrow is August 1 which is for me, the official start of what is known around my house as “crochet season,” the time I begin work on my project for the North Carolina State Fair.

What this means in practical terms is that most days from August 1 until the day the project must be turned into the fair (this year’s deadline is October 13 at 3:00 pm) I spend several hours a day working on my state fair project. Occasionally, I take breaks to drive my son to trumpet lessons or finish a smaller project to generate finishing mojo, but for the most part, I spend whatever time I have available working on my state fair project.

Last year, I had wanted to make an afghan that celebrated my grandmother’s life, but I had only the vaguest of notions as to how I would proceed, and when July 31, 2013, arrived, I realized that without question, I was not remotely ready to begin the project, so I made Cookieghan 2.0, and even as I crocheted last year’s project, I ruminated on the this year’s.

Now with an entire year of ruminating under my belt, I have realized that I will never be fully ready to begin an afghan based on my grandmother’s life, and I will just have to start anyway.

With that in mind, I got out my copy of The Great Granny Crochet Book, and turned to this page:

Then, I did something I almost never do: I read the directions for how to make these magnificent little squares completely before I started to crochet.

Then I got out the tools I would need to make my project:

and tried my hand at making the first three of what promises to be many more squares:

Like my grandmother when she stepped off La Bretagne upon arriving at Ellis Island, I don’t really know where this adventure will lead me, but it is one I refuse to miss.