My granny-square afghan is finished at last.

Inspired by the granny-square afghan that came to me from my real granny, Grandma Ehrhart, I decided to make one myself. This was more than three years ago, before I launched the Knit & Nibble series–otherwise maybe I would have tackled a giant knitting project rather than crochet.

Grandma Ehrhart’s afghan featured random colors with black borders so I used that color scheme too. I love the afghans in that style because they seem to derive from the same impulse behind patchwork quilts: a way to use up leftover odds and ends–in this case yarn remnants from other projects. Not having a huge backlog of yarn remnants, however, I went to the hobby store and bought skeins of yarn in every color that caught my eye.

First I made the squares. Here’s an early batch. Eventually I gave each a black border, but it was so much fun working with all those colors that I did many middles first.

I planned for the afghan to be 15 squares by 20 squares, so the goal was 300 squares. Then I started sewing them together, using a yarn needle and the black yarn from the borders. They can also be crocheted together.

I sewed them together into sections that were easy to handle in my lap while sitting on my sofa. Eventually I had many sections and began to fit them together like a puzzle.

Near the end, I discovered I’d only made 299 squares, not 300!

So I made another square.

Eventually the project got too big to hold on my lap so I moved it to the dining room table. The strip draped over the chair was the final piece.

Since it is now August, we won’t be needing an afghan to keep us cozy for a few more months. So my new afghan is folded up on a trunk waiting for cold weather.

Granny squares are really fun to make and they’re the perfect portable craft project. It’s easy to find tutorials online or in how-to-crochet books at the hobby store.

In my post of July 23, 2018, “A Genuine GRANNY-Square Afghan,” I talk about Grandma Ehrhart’s afghan.