The crochet bug bites me a couple of times a year. And though it bites hard, it usually doesn’t last long, which makes me hesitant to invest much into it. I have a small stash of yarn I keep for such emergency urges, and that usually does it until the urge, as it has usually done in the past, well… passes.

This time, it’s not going away. I’ve finished a doll blanket for my granddaughter, and one scarf to be given as a gift. Now working on a “mermaid” blanket for the granddaughter, and another gift. The difference? These are all new patterns for me, except the scarf. Learning something new seems to have kept the urge going, instead of disappearing.

So I’ve learned the German Shells/Virus pattern by Jonna Martinez, (with some help from a video tutorial by Fiber Spider) and the Mermaid project is a pattern called “Absolutely Gorgeous” by Terry Kimbrough, from a pattern book so old I had to track down a copy on eBay. I’ve also invested in yarn for several projects and new patterns – another Jonna Martinez one called “Shells of One Color” is up next. And I bought all but one pattern by the designer Marion Mitchell of Wool Thread Paint, and yarn to make one of her designs called “The Spots n Stripes Blanket”.

Another pattern I used to know how to do was a basic “Mile-a-Minute”, so called because they work up so fast, and with my penchant for instant gratification, this is always a good thing. Nothing will turn me off a project faster than feeling like I’m making no progress. I got bogged down hunting for it online, so I went looking for a pattern book. Found one with a bunch of different variations, but apparently “Mile-a-Minute” is out of vogue, because the only place I could find this book was at the Milledgeville library. I mean I couldn’t find it to buy, and I think that was the only library in the state that owned it.

The above Caron Cake yarn will be for the couch, because our living room is blues and browns. Possibly one of the Mile-a-Minute patterns from the library book.

I’m rationalizing all this by realizing that it’s likely to be a very long winter, with a lot of staying home, and even I can only read so much. I also started being more active over at Ravelry, to keep myself accountable. I’m enjoying their forums as a nice change from Facebook and the endless angst. Lots of cat pictures and chatter about yarn sales. I just hope I didn’t jinx the whole thing with this post!