Do you crochet?

I don't. But I'm learning to. For the past 3 years, I have wanted to make scarves for my kids for the winter. Honestly, I'm not good at it. I forget the stitches and make up my own, I lose count, the sides are all lumpy, it's really pathetic. The scarves get finished, but they are not particularly pretty. My kids like them, but I'm always disappointed in how they turn out. But then this past Christmas my husband bought me this book, and now I am in love with crochet. Oh, I need another hobby like a hole in my head.

Firstly, I want to say, I LOVE this book. I am such a handmade person it's not even funny, and this book is all about handmade. It is a lovely book, filled with pictures of handmade things and lovely flowers and wide open spaces. I have looked through it so many times and I could look through it a million more. The book talks about making aprons, yo yos, tatting, embroidery, and crochet. I had no idea crochet could be that beautiful. I really did not. For example, I just stopped dead at this picture. Isn't that scarf just lovely?? Well, I am in love, so I wanted to learn to make it. I bought yarn and hooks and have sat down for many hours to figure out how to do it. The instructions in this book are excellent, I will say that. I went from not knowing anything but a single crochet (kind of) to being able to read a crochet pattern, which previously looked like Greek to me. I can also now do a triple crochet and make a loop and a slipknot. I've got the trellis stitch licked. But it's not easy. I can't yet make a hexagon, which is what this scarf is made of. I start, and can do three rows, but it always looks wobbly to me, so I pull out the stitches. I also need to jump into using the tiny, tiny yarn the scarf is made of. It uses a size 10. That's small!! I'm a little intimidated and definitely not ready for it. But I will get there.

Of course, like any good completely obsessed person, once I "discovered" crochet, I had to delve completely into it. Let's just not dip one toe into the water and try it out, let's just jump headfirst, you know? So I just ordered another book to help further my learning experience. Isn't that front picture yummy? Boy, do I want to learn to make that!! Pretty, pretty. And then I did an internet search on free crochet patterns and WHOA! There are tons! Laces and scarves and shawls of all kinds. I had no idea. And of course, the laces all use a thread that's size 30 or 50. I don't even know what that looks like, because no one by me carries it. It's probably tiny. Microscopic, even. But that didn't stop me. I printed out at least 50 pages of instructions for things that I liked. Now, I just need to learn how to make them. There's a goal for this year, I guess.

Has this happened to anyone else? You get a book and in it is something you never noticed before or knew about (or paid any attention to) and then it becomes something you HAVE to learn? What's your unexpected obsession? Did it work out and become a new hobby? Or was it a quick "fling"? I'd love to hear about it!!