happiness is going to your favorite needlework shop and finding they had just the book you were looking for.
Happiness is discovering that they actually make crochet hooks in size 16 (at that size, you use it with sewing weight threads like when trimming hankies)
Unhappiness is having the weather getting ready to change and your hand hurt enough you don't know if you're going to pick your needles up again for hours.
Prayers for your talented, but hurting hands.
I've been thinking about your comment the other day about making scarves: that you go with the width you like and just go to town on the pattern. That's kind of what I'm doing in the learning process. Most the patterns I've seen recently (even in some of the links you posted) have you knit the long way, with a bunch of stitches but just a few rows along the length. I wouldn't like that, because what if I decided the length was wrong, or just changed my mind? I don't understand this.