Traveling, as a rule, is better when one has a lap-sized crochet project to work on.

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to go to Washington, D.C., for the purpose of celebrating the Fourth of July. To keep myself amused while in the car, I brought along a hat project which was completed on the first leg of the trip.

Because I had hoped to finish the hat for use while out in the sun, I also took my great granny square along.

When I first wrote about my great granny square, it was comprised of 24 rounds:

It has since grown to 30 rounds; the additional rounds have brought with them dozens of additional ends to be woven in, and this is where I focused my attentions over the weekend:

When I first learned to crochet, I regarded weaving in ends as a necessary evil, and I would often join the pieces of my project and then pull the myriad ends to the back side where they couldn’t be easily seen. The project would then sit for months on end, unfinished and not usable.

I have since come to a different perspective on weaving in ends, and I now save this part of the crochet process for moments when I am not easily able to transport all of my crochet gear, or when I just want to experience the transformation of a project.

As for the granny square itself, I am limiting the materials used to worsted weight acrylic, and I am trying to make this a true scrap project, using bits of left over yarn, and frogging gauge swatches and other items that didn’t quite work out and don’t have another project of which they can become a part.

I want to see what I am able to accomplish using materials that are at hand, and then take those lessons and apply them to other projects.