Pattern Hoarding.

2018: Flower Burst by Jessie at Home
2014: Anticipation Mystery Afghan 12" block by Margaret MacInnis

There is a wonderful world of free crochet patterns all over the internet. I discovered this world a couple of years ago and began hoarding these patterns in earnest. This is part of what lead to my discovery of the crochet along concept. One of my favorite pattern designers and sharers is Tamara Kelly of Moogly. After spending more hours than I care to admit gathering up as many patterns as still existed for free from her 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 CALs, I started 2018 planning to actually crochet the 2018 squares.

2018: Gretchen by Julie Yeager Designs
2014: The intended block was no longer free, so I replaced it with Beware the Ides of March
by Margaret MacInnis which was in my pattern hoard and I liked it 

2018: Clown Car by Every Trick on the Hook
2014: Hugs N Kisses by Aurora Suominen

But I'm an overachiever...or just perfectionist?...and really thought that the intended dimensions of the resulting blanket wouldn't be to my liking. I thought I could combine the 2018 squares with the 2014 squares and come up with a shape/size I'd like better. Since patterns are released every other week and none of the squares really take that long to make, I figured there would be plenty of time to do one square a week alternating between the two.

2018: Crocodile Dahlia by KatiDCreations
2014: Veronica's Rose by Melissa Green

2018: Doubles and Stripes by The Lindsey Life
2014: Lion's Mane by April Moreland

Then the perfectionism kicked in again and it took over two months to commit to a color scheme. Sometimes I'm a little too much even for me. I finally decided on three shades of purple and three shades of blue. It turns out I could not have picked a worse pallet for my already very poor photography skills. I worked fairly diligently on this project in March, May, and July of 2018 and then put it in time out until last fall when I decided to rotate through projects in a more intentional/organized fashion.

2018: Purple Plaid Square by Hooked For Life
2014: More V's Please by Melinda Miller

2018: Dahlia Bloom by Petals to Picots
2014: Drop in the Bucket by Janie Herrin

Other challenges include that multiple designers contributed to each CAL and each one has their own style and tension and all the important things that go into making a cohesive set of squares that match in size. Furthermore, older patterns aren't always in the same format even compared to the same designer's newer patterns. And then, of course, there's the fact that there are so many other things on my to do list. It's easy to get frustrated and put the project down for a while. But I am also very very stubborn (steadfast? determined? what's the one that's less self-deprecating?). This will get done eventually.

2018: Tuscan Flower by The Lavender Chair
2014: Princess by Melinda Miller