There is a Mexican restaurant near my house that is a favorite of ours, and when we go there to eat, I often (read: “always”) bring a crochet project with me.

One time while we were waiting for our order, a woman stopped at the table to ask me a few questions about a project I was working on.

I was more than happy to answer her questions, but soon, her husband soon swooped in, grabbed his wife by the shoulders as if to protect her, looked at me and said “you’re hardcore.” With that, he guided his wife to the relative safety of what I can only assume was a crochet-free table.

But if you are like me and prefer your crochet hardcore and without a safety net, then Michele Maks new subscription website, Mainly Crochet, might just be for you.

Michele Maks has a long history in the world of crochet as a designer, as editor of Crochet World, and everything in between.

The depth and breadth of Ms. Maks experience has made her a crocheter’s crocheter.

Mainly Crochet is a very crocheter-friendly website, offering patterns that help beginning crocheters build skills while giving intermediate and advanced crocheters the opportunity to expand skills.

Additionally, she has made a point of combining the pattern offerings so that there are not only patterns for one to crochet in a more meditative and rhythmic way, but also patterns that require greater concentration and attention to detail.

My favorite feature, however, has to be the fact that it is completely digital. Not only will I never have to figure out where to store or how to organize the patterns on the website, but Ms. Maks has capitalized on this fact and has every step of every pattern written out in one file.

No longer is your crochet interrupted by a direction to turn to the middle of page 64, nor you will ever be directed to refer to an earlier part of the pattern to complete the step you are currently working on. Another bonus — all of the patterns I had the chance to review were well written and easy to follow.

As for my own crochet, I am continuing to make progress on my 2013 North Carolina State Fair project and I have these six new large cookies to show for it:

as well as this assortment of the smaller cookies:

I have a lot of work to do between now and noon of October 14, when I have to have my completed project turned in, and you can be sure that when I need a break from the hurly burly of the state fair crochet season, I will turn to Mainly Crochet to get the restoration and inspiration I need to keep going.