This project certainly has a life of its own! Over ten years old and going strong, with almost 1,000 projects in Ravelry. I am speaking of The Great American Aran Afghan. Knitters Magazine teamed up with Plymouth Encore in 1999 and sponsored a design contest for afghan squares with aran elements. I continue to receive questions about the project and where to obtain the pattern, so I thought I would provide one more update here.
The original squares rolled out four per issue over six issues of Knitters — this took well over a year. My winning sweater square came out in the last [7th] issue. SO, if you had a subscription back then, you have the patterns. They also pulled all the squares into a book which is readily available on-line and at many yarn shops. There have been numerous knitalongs at various knitting stores — in fact, The Yarnery has one going on now if I’m not mistaken. This project is a great learning experience and you end up with an heirloom.
Great American Aran Afghan in Cascade 220
If you are interested in tackling this challenging and rewarding project, I suggest joining the GAAA Ravelry Group. They share their frustrations and learnings, so it’s like a do-it-yourself knitalong.
Thanks for talking about this again – maybe it will inspire me to finish sewing my squares together over this long holiday weekend. I was hoping to finish in less than a year, but I started last May and still need to sew most of it together and do the border – maybe 14 months!
Comment by Marcia — May 27, 2010 @ 11:24 am
I have been meaning to make this afghan since the first set of 4 squares came out way back when. I need to get with it! Yours is stunning!
Comment by Alice in Richmond — May 27, 2010 @ 6:14 pm
I’m an “advanced beginner” I would say. Do you think this would be too difficult for me??
Comment by Cath Pete — May 27, 2010 @ 7:28 pm
*LOVE* your square. It’s the best one. 🙂
xox
Comment by Romi — May 28, 2010 @ 3:03 am
I may just have to suck it up and do this one. I’ve really stayed away from afghans for a few years. There are so many wonderful patterns that I want to knit for sweaters and socks. I think this photo is the best one I’ve seen and it makes me think I need to re-think the no afghan rule.
Comment by 2muchfun — May 28, 2010 @ 6:33 am
That is one we still get requests for. Very nice. Is this going to be the season of blankets?
Comment by Needles — May 28, 2010 @ 7:50 am
Thanks for the Ravelry tip… I just joined the GAAAAAAAAA on there. I started my GAAA with Plymouth Encore Worsted Weight yarn several weeks back and, after completing three squares, I was not happy with how it knit up compared to Cascade 220 Superwash (I just completed the Great American Afghan a month or two ago using the Cascade yarn). I’ve now ordered the Cascade 220 Superwash to complete the GAAA. I am frequently viewing your blog to look at your completed GAAA… gets me inspired all over again! Your afghan is beautiful!!!!
Comment by Kim Fluck — May 28, 2010 @ 11:13 am
This is amazing Susan! You are such a talented knitter!
Comment by Eryka Jackson — May 28, 2010 @ 1:21 pm
How about you just give yours to me? You must be tired of it by now.
Comment by surly — May 29, 2010 @ 9:09 pm
From Susan: Very surly, Funny!
Comment by lv2knit — May 29, 2010 @ 9:23 pm
Did you use cascade 220 or cascade 220 superwash? and if you used cascade 220 have you ever had to wash/dry clean it.
Comment by Sandi B — May 31, 2010 @ 11:59 am
About 7 years ago, my knitting group decided to knit the GAAA as a wedding gift for a young woman in our group who was moving across the country after she got married. We all chose which square we wanted to knit, and I chose the sweater square because I loved it! The bride and groom loved the afghan. That was way before I had ever heard of the Rainey Sisters! That’s still my favorite square.
Comment by Katie's Granny — May 31, 2010 @ 9:42 pm
Took on this challenge in Sept of 2009 and by Sept of 2010 I had succeeded in knitting 40 squares (20 times 2) to make each of my grandaughters an afghan. I have yet to put one of them together but that has become my New Year’s resolution. I got sidetracked by my other grandaughter (age 6) who took one look at the little sweater on your square and decided that I needed to knit two little sweaters and put them together for a sweater for her American Girl doll. I did and it is adorable. Then I found a pattern to make one for her too. I’ve made many Aran sweaters over my 45 years of knitting, in fact the first sweater I ever made in Home Ec was an Irish knit sweater, but this afghan was the most challenging project I have ever taken on. Can’t wait to see it finished.
Comment by Diane Johnson — January 8, 2011 @ 10:35 pm
Where can I purchase all the squares of the book so I can make this beautiful afghan?
Comment by Gail Wells — January 29, 2011 @ 1:13 pm
@Gail: The Great American Aran Afghan – here’s an Amazon link
http://tinyurl.com/4flw9vx
Comment by Marcia — January 29, 2011 @ 9:39 pm
I just purchased the pattern book for The Great American Aran Afghan. Does anyone know if there is
a video or utube visuals to assist in knitting the squares? Thanks
Comment by Wray — August 9, 2012 @ 1:14 pm