My current state of the afghan-that-has-eluded-me is at a point that reminds me of a story I used to read to my two older children when they were much younger than they are now, and it went like this:
There were ten in his bed and the little one said “Roll over, roll over,” so they all rolled over and then there were nine.
It’s only taken me twelve years, but I am down to the last nine squares, and today, in addition to completing the elusive C-5, I also began joining more of the squares that border the central panel of twelve squares, and the afghan is starting to take shape.
As with many of the squares I have encountered, the first challenge has been the directions. Square C-5 was a challenge because the directions read: “C-5 Rnds 1, 2, 3, 4: Rep directions as given for C-1.”
Upon closer inspection (I have a magnifying glass handy to look over the pictures in the book when necessary), I found that, in fact, the first two rounds of C-5 were from the directions for the first two rounds of C-4. From there, the pattern was entirely different than any of the available directions, so I did the following:
Round 3: Join a new color in any Ch-3 sp. Ch 3 (counts as first dc). *Work (3dc, ch2, 3dc) in ch-3 sp, dc in next st, dc in next st, ch2, dtr in lsc of previous round, ch2, sk first dc, dc in next dc, dc in next dc, repeat from * 3 times more. Join with sl st to first dc. Fasten off.
Round 4: Join a new color in any ch-2 corner sp. Ch 3 (counts as first dc). *Work (dc, ch2 dc) in corner sp, dc in each of next 5dc, 2dc in ch-2 sp, dc in dtr, 2dc in ch-2 sp, dc in each of next 5 dc, repeat from * 3 times more. Join with sl st to first dc made. Fasten off.
Round 5: Join a new color in any ch-2 corner sp with a sc, ch2, sc, *sc in each of next 17dc, (sc, ch2, sc in ch-2 sp), repeat from * 2 times more, sc in each of next 17dc. Join with sl st to first sc made. Fasten off.
Round 6: Join a new color in any ch-2 corner sp with a sc, ch2, sc, *sc in each of next 19sc, (sc, ch2, sc in ch-2 sp), repeat from * 2 times more, sc in each of next 19sc. Join with sl st to first sc made. Fasten off.
Round 7: Join a new color in any ch-2 corner sp with a sc, ch2, sc, *sc in each of next 21sc, (sc, ch2, sc in ch-2 sp), repeat from * 2 times more, sc in each of next 21sc. Join with sl st to first sc made. Fasten off.
Round 8: Join a new color in any ch-2 corner sp with a sc, ch2, sc, *sc in each of next 23 sc, (sc, ch2, sc in ch-2 sp), repeat from * 2 times more, sc in each of next 23 sc. Join with sl st to first sc made. Fasten off.
Round 9: Join a new color in any ch-2 sp. Ch 3 counts as first st. *Work (3dc, ch3, 3dc) in ch-2 sp, sk 1 st, 3dc in next st, [sk 2 sts, 3dc in next st], repeat from [ to ] 6 times more; repeat from * 3 times more. Join with sl st to first dc made.
Here is what I got:
