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Old-Fashioned Sampler Progress Pix

I've been crocheting a few more squares for the Old-Fashioned Sampler, lately.

On the one hand, it's pleasantly casual, just flipping through the book (or referring to a list of favorites I jotted down at the beginning of the project), picking a square, and hooking it up. 

On the other hand, it can be difficult to keep up the momentum.  When one square is done, it's not as effortless to move on to the next.

Also, I'm feeling a little wishy-washy about a couple of aspects of this project.

First, I'm not completely, positively, undeniably sure about my palette.  Do the two darker colors stand out too much?  But if I take them away, then the yellow-green looks too yellow-green-y.  But if I take that away, this other color becomes too dominant-- and I've just removed half of my colors... Oh, let's just toss them all back in together again!  Good.  Fine... But do I really want to put that darker turquoise (that I've yet to use because I'm just not sure) into the mix?  Ack!  Decisions!

Second, I'm not sure how many different square patterns I want to use.  I don't really like at least two or three of the ones I've done so far. (Too limp.  Too meshy.) I could take them out, but if I just leave them in, I'm sure they'll blend in well enough. (And I could go back and add an overlay of some sort to bulk them up.)  Maybe I just won't make those squares twice... In any case, I'll probably want to make at least some of the patterns more than once.  Maybe I ought to narrow it down and make my favorites three or four times each rather than continuing to add new patterns...

...Which leads me to a third question:  How big will this blanket be, anyway?  I've never made an afghan that was big enough to cover our king size bed.  Maybe this will be the first.

In between agonizing over details, I made myself snap a few imperfect photos of the recently-completed squares.  (Some of them look wonky, but I'm confident they'll straighten out when they're joined and laundered.)  All patterns are from Jan Eaton's 200 Crochet Blocks


Fretwork:

Fretwork


Gothic Square:

Gothic Square



Willow:

Willow



Anemone:

Anemone


I altered some of the patterns slightly.  Particulars are in the project notes on Ravelry.

More squares to come!