My Ongoing Project

Since I started knitting and crocheting again right after Christmas over a year ago, I had been saving every tiny little scrap of yarn. There was not even an inch of yarn that went in the trash during that time.

Eventually, the bag I was keeping them in got full, so I decided to go through it and pick out all the pieces that were long enough to tie together. This was right after I had learned to make granny squares (an essential for any crocheter), so I wound up a ball of mismatched yarn and started working. There were several different colors and weights of yarn, but I just chose a large hook that could work all weights of yarn and started going in circles...er, squares.

I'll admit, the first 8 inches of it were pretty horrible. Since there were so many color changes, I decided to not even weave in the ends, so they stuck out all over. I affectionately called it my ugly square, and would proudly show it off to whomever came over, after showing them my latest projects in all their cuteness and beauty.

The inner square: the first 8 inches

 I was finally able to show my grandma, who taught me to knit and crochet so many years ago, and she said, "Yep, it's ugly. I've got some yarn you can add to that."

So she has started saving all of her little ends of balls and long strings for me. She had a huge project for Christmas this past year where she made socks for every single person in the family (about 26 pair!), so she has lots of ends for me she dropped off the other day. I'm so excited about adding them to my ugly square, I've put all other projects on hold until I run out of yarns (to be fair, I don't have any deadlines right now).

Here is just a sampling of the yarns she brought over, and a photo of my ugly square to date.

Some of the colors that make up the Ugly Square

While it's not my most challenging, pretty, or marketable project, I love looking at it and remembering working on the projects the yarns came from. My first scarf, the slippers I made my husband's family, my first knit bib where I learned to make short rows. This is a piece I hope my sons will snuggle under as they grow up and will fondly remember from their childhood, as I have so many memories of afghans from my grandma in our home, being made into blanket forts, warming up under on snow days, and covering me when I was sick. This is a creation that will be around for years to come.

The Ugly Square as of 2/27/2014