Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

Tiger Wood and Lance Armstrong and Venus Williams and other record holders have nothing on me. While their accomplishments are more in the public eye than mine, I am proud to say that today I crossed the finish line in one of my latest projects. It took six months, and I’m glad it’s over; but I’m equally glad to say I completed what I started.

My project was an afghan, which I crocheted for a friend of my son’s. Granted I had committed to finish it four months ago, so you might say I ended the race long after the cheering crowd departed. At the same time, I had no idea what I was getting into when I began this project.

I wonder if Tiger and Lance and Venus look back and say the same time.

The early going was easy, as I completed what I call the base of the afghan: a simple pattern of double crochet combined with a pattern of mesh rows. Crochet 12 double rows, then two mesh rows, then 12 double rows, then two mesh rows, etc. until the desired size was obtained.

Unlike the aforementioned heroes, I did not start out knowing the precise number of holes or kilometers or sets I had to cover to reach the finish line. All I knew was that the base was easy and I finished it fairly quickly.

But, having never done this particular pattern before, I didn’t realize the significance of the mesh rows until I began attaching the fringe to the afghan. Now that I’m wiser, I suspect they are similar to sand traps or water holes for the golf enthusiast. For every mesh in a mesh row, I attached five strands of fringe. And, if it weren’t for Earl’s help in cutting them all, I’d still be at it.

Instead, this morning over coffee, I attached the final strands. Then, with the help of a calculator and some advanced math, I counted them to see how many we actually used. I believe this afghan has over 10,000 strands of fringe, enough to make all but the stout hearted actually go crazy or at least become part of the fringe element themselves.

But now I’m done, and I’m proud of Earl’s and my work. I plan to ship the afghan off to Julie without further ado and then take a break from afghan making. Well, maybe I’ll contact the Guinness Book of Records first. It’s possible Earl and I hold the official Fringe Factor Record.