"I tend to crochet while watching TV. I also have a denim bag that I carry my supplies around when I travel. Most of what I need for any particular afghan is small enough that it fits into a medium Ziploc bag so I can use any downtime to finish a square or two."

Being a teacher, Michelle finds that summer recess is not only a time to relax, but allows her a few extra hours to work at her craft.

"I carry the denim bag back and forth from our cottage at the lake as well. It is the most outlandish 'tool' in my collection - on one of the sides it says, 'I Love Hooking,'" she said with a laugh.

When it comes to being inspired, Michelle says that there is no one thing in particular, but culls ideas from many sources.

"I find inspiration in the various crochet patterns I have, and I have a granny square book I keep going back to a lot, plus a couple of afghan books. I sometimes look at pictures on the Internet and tweak what I see to create an afghan. I look at the dollhouse afghans on eBay© and I try to avoid what other people are creating. For the most part mine tend to be different from the majority that are listed. I haven't seen a lot of 3-D afghans listed."