Sometimes, you need to crochet like you mean it. There is no time to meander, no time to check your email or your social media accounts. You just need to get out your hooks and yarn and focus.

That is where I found myself yesterday.

After a reasonably good night’s sleep, I awoke to a four-panel yarn bomb that was three-fourths done, which meant that it really wasn’t done at all. Sometimes a crochet project is either done, or it’s not. You might be three-fourths of the way through, but until that last stitch is worked, you have not crossed the finish line, so with that in mind, I fixed a pot of coffee, got out my hook and yarn, I crocheted as if my life depended on it.

Allowing myself to feel the urgency, I made much needed progress. Sooner than I had expected the fourth panel was done, and I had time to run errands; when I returned, I had renewed energy.

The first thing I had to do with my crochet “second wind” was to carefully check the back of each panel to make sure that each and every end had been securely tied. Fortunately for me, I find this kind of picky work relaxing, and before lunch I had checked all of the bazillion ends, tied them, rechecked them, and then trimmed them.

From there, I moved onto joining the four panels.

I don’t find joining the panels as gratifying as I do crocheting the panels. You have to put the right sides together, so you literally can’t see what you’re doing. Instead, you only see the back of your work and occasionally have to navigate the awkwardness of checking to make sure you have everything lined up.

But I really wanted the piece done, so moved forward, unraveling as necessary and then crocheting until I got it right, and eventually I had them put together, and all that was left was to install it:

How you install a yarn bomb depends a lot on where you install it. Because mine goes on my own fence which happens to abut a public walkway, I use staples. I got out my staple gun, my staples, my staple remover, and a tool kit that comes in very handy whenever I am putting up a yarn bomb, went to the outward facing side of my fence where I put up my first yarn bomb, and I got to work.

After twenty minutes of stapling here and stapling there, I had it up:

There is a value to not taking yourself too seriously, but sometimes, when the occasion warrants it, you need to crochet like you mean it, and you might just find that you do.