I got up early this morning after a late night of crochet to finish work on some squares for Olek’s Love Across the USA installation here in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Today was the last day to get the squares done.

As I worked on one of the last two squares for which I was responsible, I made a mental checklist of what I would need to bring with me: The graphs detailing the pattern of the squares I was working on, all four squares, any extra yarn, and my cell phone with its ever portable camera.

I also made a list of things still to be done, eat breakfast, make coffee, walk my dog, and charge my cellphone.

Shortly after I got the dog walked, I was ready to head out. I was looking forward to learning how the pieces of the project are assembled. I went over one of my mental checklists:

Hooks? Check.
Squares? Check.
Leftover yarn? Check.

I had even remembered to charge my phone so that I could document the day’s activities.

Final destination: The Raleigh Convention Center where the gallery coordinating the project had arranged for a room to assemble the the 162 crochet squares that comprise the installation.

I left the house with high hopes and some trepidation about what the process would entail, but before I headed to the convention center, I stopped to get an espresso drink to help fuel my crochet, and it was there that I discovered that I had left my fully charged phone at home.

At that point, there was not enough time to retrieve my phone and get to my destination on time, so for the first time in what is probably years, I was going out into the world completely untethered.

It was both exhilarating and unnerving. After asking my son (who was with me for part of the trip) to text anyone who might need to be in touch with me how I could be reached and him graciously allowing me to use his phone to get these photos:

I made my way to the convention center without the help of Google Maps, and when I arrived, most of the 162 squares were arranged on the floor, ready and waiting to be joined.

As for me, I still had some work to do on the second pink square, but after another 90 minutes of crochet, was was for me the “final square” was done, and I was able to begin joining some of the squares into strips.

The hours flew by, and before I knew it the sun was setting on this day that was both too long and too short. I packed up my stuff, said my good-byes, and headed out.

Tomorrow, I am going to the convention center again, and while I don’t yet know what I will learn, I am looking forward to it, whatever it is.