One thing the moments of waiting while traveling affords is the opportunity to think, and late last week when I began my whirlwind trip to Pittsburgh and back, the hectic nature of the travel was punctuated with some moments were I had time to reflect, and I ended up with more thoughts on the empowering nature of craft.

Some of this came about because of a late afternoon lunch on Friday.

We had gone out in search of something to eat and were on our way to somewhere else when we came across Alexander’s Italian Bistro:

The interior of Alexander’s was a welcome relief from the cold snap that had gripped Pittsburgh, and we were ushered to a booth in a back room that was able to seat two and my crochet.

After looking over the menu and settling on the Eggplant Alexander, I got to work, whipstitching rectangles together, and I happily kept myself busy while I waited for my lunch, which, it turned out was well worth the wait.

At the end of our late lunch, the waitress asked me about what I was working on. After I had shared the story of Project Amigo and how my squares fit into that, she shared with me how she made a beaded bracelet for a friend of hers when the Steelers had not been doing well. Her friend wore the bracelet she made for him, and the Steelers managed to turn things around.

She showed me some of the bracelets she had made with a bead stash she had acquired, and I took the opportunity to get my own lucky bracelet:

And I was wearing my new lucky bracelet when I resumed work on the crochet squares today.

I started by rounding up the sixteen crochet squares I had been working on before I got ready for the trip:

Then, working from my stash, I got to work, and while I didn’t finish all sixteen squares, I did make progress:

I will continue working — one stitch at a time — until all the squares are done, and then I will see where my new lucky bracelet takes me.