This square is the ninth square in a series of afghan squares named after each of Blair Braverman’s sled dogs and my tenth design over all. What better way to celebrate my 10th design than an afghan square with a cabled “X” in it? This square was designed for BAMCAL 2019’s October main square and is named for the very handsome sled dog Xander.

Blair has a large following on social media (Twitter), which has become a community of very generous and genuinely nice people. This community calls itself the #uglydogs, because an internet troll once told Blair to “go back to your ugly dogs, Karen” and Blair will always come back to her fans.

Blair is an amazing storyteller and she describes each of the dogs’ unique personalities with humor and grace. She and her husband, Quince Mountain, inspire us everyday to face our challenges (whatever they may be) with courage, humility, determination and humor.

US terms used.
Skill level: advanced beginner to intermediate

The gauge does not matter for this square. The finished size will depend on the weight of yarn and size hook used.

If you use worsted weight yarn and a 5.0 mm hook, the finished size should be 12” or 30 cm.

Blair has given me permission to use her photos of Xander in the pattern.

Special thanks to my testers: JustJilly2 and Berniece