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Ugly-Cute Join-a-Thon

I finished two of the "Granny's Step-Daughter" cushion cover panels, then stopped, toying with the idea of filming some of the "making" of the next one.  I'd like to remember exactly how I'm doing this, and it could be fun to put together a simple tutorial-ish video.  What I'm not so sure I'd enjoy is listening to a recording of my own voice and editing the video for the web.  It's intimidating, with all the possible combinations of settings, and it's been a long time since I used a video-editing program.   ...Anyway, we'll see.  Maybe I'll give it a try. 

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"So Ugly It's Cute" Afghan


When I put aside the one-round granny project, I picked up the "Ugly Cute" project instead.  Another 34 mini-grannies flew into the bag!  That made 304 total.  (I made a few extras to replace a couple of duds that I stitched early in the project.  They're just too ugly for even an "ugly-cute" project.  Into the garbage with them!) 

Now I've started the long process of joining them.  I can tell it's going to take me a while.  So much stopping and starting, because with each new square I have to take the time to be sure I have the right sides facing and that I'm starting (and ending) in the correct spot-- and there are a lot of little squares!

I'm going with my usual joining method, which is slip-stitching on the back through the front loop of the front square and the back loop of the back square.  In keeping with the scrappiness of the project, I'm using leftover balls of Caron Simply Soft for the joining.  Slowly but steadily, I'm working my way through all Caron Simply Soft in my stash.  (It's a nice-enough yarn, and the silkiness gives it a pretty sheen, but I'm tired of compensating for its skinniness in mixed-brand projects.) 

Instead of trying to determine the layout of the whole blanket from the start, I'm composing it column by column.  It's not totally random, this way, but it's also not nearly so carefully orchestrated as it could have been.

Right now, I'm planning on making the afghan 15 squares wide by 20 squares long.  If the result feels too small, I could make more squares and join them afterward, but I doubt I'll care to do so.  I'm more likely to add a thick border to increase the size. 

Oh, and I ended up not putting the seams on the diagonal.  That would require much more fuss, and I'm not convinced it would be an improvement.  (The squares on the edges would curl, and the jagged edges would make adding a border more complicated.)  Maybe I'll try it on a cute-cute afghan, someday... but for a merely ugly-cute afghan, no.  ;o)  Not worth the extra investment of time, when I have so many other projects underway.