As I work on what is now my 2018 North Carolina State Fair project, working one stitch and then another, it can, at times, feel as if I am all alone in the world, but the truth is I am not, and occasionally outside forces remind me of this fundamental truth: No matter what we may feel, we are not alone.

All of this hit home yesterday when I went to Ravelry. While I was there I saw that I had a new message. Eager to find out what it might be, I headed to my message box. It turned out that another eagle-eyed crafter had seen the pattern for the African Flower Soccer Ball I designed for sale on Etsy. She provided me a link to the store where she suspected my free pattern was being sold.

Not only had the proprietor of the Etsy shop stolen my pattern, she had used my images as well, so the next thing I did was go to Twitter and tweet at Etsy asking what I should do.

Another crafter saw my tweet and searched and then found the link to the Etsy page where I could report the infringement. She then shared the link with me.

Because she had been so quick in finding the information and sharing it with me, I decided the best way to honor her generosity was to quickly report the infringement. So I did, and by the time Etsy got back to me with the same link, my complaint had already been logged by their legal department.

So two people I have never met took time out of their days to help me, and with their assistance, I was able to begin the process of righting a wrong that I wouldn’t have been aware of.

So this weekend as I again worked on this corner of my 2018 North Carolina State Fair piece:

I couldn’t help but think of all of the people whose contributions and efforts have made this entire piece possible.

As I crocheted the rickrack for my current tricking out efforts, I acknowledged a debt of gratitude to Kate of Fox’s Lane who created a crochet ric-rac pattern I was able to modify to excellent effect without having to reinvent the wheel all on my own. Instead, I simply modified the wheel she created and moved forward more quickly than I would otherwise have been able to, which is how I managed to get this much done by the time I needed to pack up my crochet and move inside:

And while my overall progress looks modest:

I know that at some point this attention to detail:

will suddenly all come together. All of the pieces will be crocheted and decorated and seamed, and then those seams will also be decorated, and much sooner than I expect (while also having taken much longer than I anticipated) this project will be ta-done.

And while I wait for that moment, I will continue forward, one stitch at a time.