For the past three days, I have been amassing a stash of completed motifs for this year’s entry into the state fair.

I begin by making the circular center, weaving in the ends of that center, and then adding a second round (in a different color) that transforms the edge from circular to square:

Today, working from the stash of completed motifs pictured above, I finished the fourth of 31 rows:

and laid out, in order, the squares that will comprise the fifth row.

As I work on this project, I try to focus only on the square that I am working on at any given moment. I try not to think about how many squares I have left to make (it is some number less than 837), how many ends there are to be woven in (there are four ends per square, and all of the squares pictured in the photo have their ends woven in), or how many days are left until the project needs to be turned in for judging at the fair.

While all of these metrics could, theoretically, help me determine how much work I need to get done each day, the fact is some days I will do nothing but work on crochet, some days will be consumed by other activities which, while required in the larger scheme of things, will do nothing to advance the completion project, and other days will fall somewhere in the middle of the continuum.

So for now, I simply persist, making one circle after another, joining one square after another, and weaving in one end after another. At some point (a point I am working to arrive at before 3:00 pm, October 11), there will be no more circles to be made, every square will be joined, there will be no more ends to be woven in, and the project will, at last, be completed.