You see this book? I bought it at Hobby Lobby yesterday because now that I’m nearly done with CU’s scarf (durn thing’s taking a while to dry from the blocking…oh well, he’s out of town anyway), I figured I’d jump into the Exciting World of Dishcloths.

I know the knitting purists out there hate crochet, but my grandma has been crocheting dishcloths for years…and I think every member of the family gets at least one every Christmas. With her getting on in age, I was thinking it would be fun if I could continue in that tradition.

I bought this book specifically because it says “12 FUN & EASY DESIGNS” in the bottom corner. I figure I can do “easy” - I’ve mastered the single and double crochet after all, and have made about a dozen afghans over the years. It’s time for me to challenge myself and move to the next level, right? Well, turns out a full six out of the 12 FUN & EASY DESIGNS kicked my apparently crochet-challenged ass.

After work yesterday I sat down with my hooks, my yarn, and an excitement about trying something new. Two hours later I had a headache, no progress, and a disarming feeling of dread.

Seriously, these things were hard! The book is supposed to teach me new stitches with each pattern…and beautiful those patterns are, but the beginnings of my dishcloths looked like something a first-grader could have done with the same amount of yarn and a couple of plastic forks.

Eventually I gave up and started knitting instead…figured I’d try to beat the crochet beast into submission again tonight. I will not admit defeat.