When I got it into my head that I was going to crochet a yarn bomb inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe’s painting, My Last Door, I had a very precise vision in mind with no clear idea of how to bring that idea to fruition. But Friday, after installing the completed yarn bomb on my back fence, I was reminded that failure is sometimes an essential component of learning how to succeed when my first effort fell short of my vision.

So short, in fact, I was thinking I needed an entirely new fence. But even if I were going to get a new fence, I would not be getting that fence today. The reality of my situation was this: I had to work with the things I had and not with the things that I wished I had.

Taking down a yarn bomb stapled to a fence is not quick work, and as I loosened one staple and then another with my dedicated staple removing tool, I had time to contemplate what I could do differently the second time. At first, I had no ideas, but eventually, I decided take what I had learned from my failure (namely how far the piece stretched) and then use a ruler and measuring tape—along with some duct tape—to mark the corners and midpoints of the ideal finished installation.

It was tiresome work. I misplaced my needle nose pliers, I had to get right down to the ground to loosen some of the staples, I didn’t think to bring a tarp out to set the yarn bomb on once I got it uninstalled, and I wasn’t exactly sure which board I wanted to center the piece on, but I worked past my mistakes and my doubts and tried to accept that sometimes you can most easily learn by doing.

Eventually, I found the needle nose pliers, removed all to the staples, and carefully draped the yarn bomb over the fence while I did my best to figure out which slat of the fence should serve as anchor to the center of the pieces.

The, using a measuring tape, ruler, and duct tape, I got started reinstalling the piece.

At first the work went s-l-o-w-l-y. I figured I would be lucky to have it done before sunset, but then I started to get the hang of it, and figured out a way to staple the piece to the fence so that the edges were smoother. Along the way, there were a few misplaced staples that needed to be removed and redone, but eventually I had the piece reinstalled, and this time I was happy with the result. Here is how it looks if you stop and center yourself in front of it:

Here is how it looks if you approached from the east:

And here is how it looks if you approach from the west:

I don’t exactly know where this first rendition of Georgia O’Keeffe’s My Last Door is going to lead me, but I will move forward, one stitch at a time.