One Square At A Time

It is often difficult to see how you, as one person, can make any difference at all. We’ve all heard that “one person” importance phrase in some form or another, but rarely can one truly visualize what that looks like.

Well, my friends (known and unknown to me), I can now say that I have not only seen it, I was a part of it. This past weekend, I joined a group of remarkable women who were crocheting 3-inch squares (8-centimeter squares, for those metrically advanced). Hundreds of them, in varying hues and patterns. Individually, of course, it looked like the tail end of a summer camp craft project, with seemingly no focal point.

Then I saw it. Laid out on a table, I saw them, coloring the gray table, taking shape, rising above its individual pieces. I saw the sky and clouds, I saw the great orange balloon, symbol of Orange County and the Great Park, like the one hanging resolutely outside. Slowly, beautifully, those tiny squares were becoming much more than the sum of its parts.

To put this into perspective, this is the work of an uncommon genius. Thinking WAY outside the box, my lovely friend does this craft for herself, for others but, more, for the community, places far outside herself. Her work has covered cars, animals (just frames, not real ones, of course...), floors and walls. This particular work of art (approximately 8-foot by 20-foot) will soon be a “cozy” to be wrapped around one of the stately 30-foot date palms just outside her studio.

As a whole you can easily see the image as it was intended, all colors in the right place to create the cozy's big picture. Unusual, certainly... I mean covering a full size palm tree in yarn!? But there it was, a single piece of stunning art.

So this is how it works. Any project, no matter how difficult or daunting or just so unpleasant, you just can’t start, really can get done. You start with one little thing, then keep going, piece by piece, until suddenly you are there. Like your emergency kit – You put it together, item by item, then before you know it, you are prepared!

You can get yourself prepared for disasters, or anything really. You just need to start with one little three inch square. It can be done. I’ve seen it.

View the artwork of Amy Caterina at: http://freerangeamy.com.