Building on the momentum from this past weekend, I spent most of my crochet time working on the six-petal flower shawls intended for my mother’s recently discovered cousins, but  as I learned, the work is not quick.

Each flower is a decision about what color to use.

Then the flower must be crocheted and joined to the whole, and the process repeats until a row is done.

By then there are 18 ends to be woven in and trimmed.

But stitches accumulate and are transformed into flowers, and flowers accumulate and are transformed into rows, and the rows accumulate, and after awhile, something that could become a shawl begins to emerge. It is work that requires a slow and steady mind and hands.

Here is how far I got with one of the shawls-to-be:

and here is how far I got with the other:

While I enjoy a quick project here and there, these projects of accretion where progress is measured in slowly and deliberately earned inches are satisfying in their own way.

You develop something akin to, but beyond patience, that calls on you to persevere even when there are what seem to be too many ends to be woven in too little time in which to weave them in, and you move forward, knowing that one day you will reach your goal, one stitch at a time.