Frustrations of the Crochet World

So I am working on my Christmas blanket and am almost done when I realize I'm out of Christmas colored yarn (multi-color, red, green and white). I check my stash to see if I might have missed any additional skeins....which I hadn't. Next stop, my local Jo-ann's store. I stop by there today only to find that they have no more Christmas yarn. I figure, okay, maybe I can just order some online but while I was there I find that they are having a 30% off sale on books. Of course I have to get some. I found one that has a matching blanket for each of the birthstones of the year and one big book Cozy and Comfy Afghans.

I go home after this to check out the online sites only to find that Jo-Ann's doesn't sell the yarn I need online... Ugh!!! My next idea is just to make it one row smaller than what I originally decided. So I start SCing the squares together and notice that it really doesn't look like the picture. Which is when I realize that the squares are to be whip-stitched together rather than SC'ed together.....and I don't have a yarn needle. Double ugh!

Now what am I doing.....going through the two books that I found trying to find the next pattern to make because I have nothing else to work on until my American Flag blanket has been set aside for two weeks and I get a yarn needle for my Christmas blanket.

But the problem I'm having now is that I have so many patterns to choose from and a very limited color pallet available for making it right now without having to stop by the store or the other issue is that I have the colors needed for one blanket but not the right size hook.

Oh, the hard life we crocheter's lead. :)