Does this count as insanity?

I started this blanket  in 2009. I saw this  crochet flower pattern online and loved it and I thought ( as I do with every pretty  thing I see online) - I can do that! I had never crocheted a blanket but it can't be hard, right? My Gram  used to  crochet amazing blankets.  She would just whip them right up. I have a lacy cream colored one she made that is just gorgeous. I pull it out once a year and put it on the bed for a while, admire it, then pack it back up. I  don't want to mess it up!   I decided to crochet a more practical blanket  in black and ivory, the colors in my bedroom.  This will take no time, I thought. Crocheting is fast.  I was going to do 144 squares- for a 12 square by 12 blanket.  Enough to cover a queen sized bed. 

 I did a couple of test squares and found the right gauge hook, super soft yarn and off I went. 

Note to self: when the first square takes forever, it isn't going to be a quick project. 

Each square takes about 2 hours. I can do about half a square a night, sometimes a whole one depending on what we are watching on netflix that night and how late we stay up.  Every few months, I pull out the crochet box and make square after square until I get sick of them and put them away for a few more months.  Then the crazy cycle starts over again. 

These photos date to November 2009.  I had done 18 squares  and was very proud of myself. I put them  on the bed to see how they looked and realized- oh holy cow and that which springs forth from the cows back end this is going to take me the rest of my life to finish.   I  decided to just make a throw. 8x8 squares. So now I just need 64. 

I love the contrast of the ivory yarn and the black. 

Eden assisted me with the square arranging. She was just 7 then. I love her missing front teeth.

 Only 46 squares to go Mommy!  Keep going!!!

Eden had me cover her up so she could test out the squares and see how comfy they were. 

It is 2012 now.. At the end of Mad Men last night, I counted  40 squares. 40.   In three years. 

 That means  40 squares at 2 hours a piece: 80 hours so far into this thing.
The yarn is Lion Brand Micro Spun I am not sure how many skeins of yarn I have used.  A lot. I think, and this is a guess, that I can get 2-3 squares out of a black skein and 3-4 squares out of  one skein of cream.  Joann's used to carry this yarn, but they stopped and so now I have to order it online. It is usually about $5 a skein but Hancocks has it every once in a while on half price and I try to order some then.

Here are all the squares I have completed so far :

     I ask myself every once in a while- why do I do these things? This is an insane amount of time to put into a blanket that, now that it is underway, isn't really as practical as my brain imagined it to be way back in the beginning. Now we have Sophie the wonder pup, her paws, claws, collar & tags  can catch in this one just as easily as my Gram's blanket so I can't actually put it on the bed and use it like a regular blanket. And my hubby has asked what is the point of a blanket with holes in it?  He doesn't really see it being used as how is it going to do  what a blanket is supposed to do which is  hold in heat, when there are holes in it?  I say it will work just fine  because it's pretty!  The pretty adds a whole level of funtionality. It will work even better than blankets with no design holes in them! 

    At this point, and even at the 18 square point, I felt I had too much time invested to give it up . What do you do with just 18 squares? Toss and time wasted?   So I wonder is that I am just too stubborn to give up, I am gonna see this though dammit and finish what I started  or am I just possesing amazing amounts of patience. Or is plain insanity an option here because who in their right mind really plans something like this?  64 freakin' squares.....

Whatever I am, stubborn, patient or insane I am going to be SO HAPPY when it is finished!!!!! And it will be  used more than once a year and displayed somehow in my bedroom either on the bed or on the chair or somewhere...Anywhere.