As my faithful readers know, I just finished up a project, which means that it’s time for me to start a new one. Normally, at this time of year I would be working on a state fair project, but the New Mexico State Fair has been cancelled due to the pandemic, and I found myself looking to what I think of as wayback crochet machine to find something worthy of my time.

What I found was the Better Homes & Gardens granny sampler, that I have made in full twice:

and which I once used elements of to make a truly awesome fat bag:

Every time I have crocheted this project or some version of it, I have ended up being glad I made it, so it seemed to me to be the perfect pandemic activity.

I started, as I always seem to, with Square D-2. My way of making it is a touch more fussy, and the directions a bit more precise than what is in the original book, but this fussiness of mine means that I can make it over and over again, and get a close approximation of what I did before.

Fresh off of finishing a great granny square for a baby born during the pandemic, I went with the colors I had handy which included this purple shade that I think of orchid, but which is labeled “magenta”

From there, I used a Red Heart Super Saver rouge–color that has been discontinued–that I used sparingly as I can no longer replace it:

I then went with a light yellow, not because I was thrilled with the interplay between the rouge and the yellow:

But because it seemed just the thing to have sandwiched between the rouge and the grenadine:

I haven’t decided yet if this will be a blanket or a fat bag, but either way, I will enjoy the journey, one stitch at a time.