I have always said I’d never knit an afghan. I am a quilter and, frankly, I like quilts better when it comes to form and function. Also, they are much faster to produce. And yet, a few months ago I started contemplated knitting a blanket with leftover sock yarn. I’ve seen some really colorful ones and I’ve become . . . intrigued.

The week before Christmas I spent some time planning and researching. I studied various mitered square techniques. I knew I wanted my squares to be joined together as I went along since I am not being a big fan of seaming. And I knew I wanted them to be squares and not diamonds. I cobbled together ideas from this mitered square blanket pattern and this mitered square wrap and shawl and then I took the plunge.

I’ve got several squares completed so far and I love it. Each square is simple and fast and I’m taking excellent notes so that I can put it down and pick it up much later and (hopefully) not be confused.

There’s just one problem. Since I was so sure I’d never knit a blanket I didn’t actually save my sock yarn leftovers. All those socks I’ve knit over the years and I’ve only got enough yarn to knit 12 unique squares.

It would be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic.