We got Featured!

For those of you who didn't see the Facebook status in the sidebar, Age's Crochet Pages got featured on AllFreeCrochet.com! As part of their St. Patrick's Day holiday patterns, they've selected my 4-Leaf Clover Doily.

To see the Feature on AllFreeCrochet!

Or go straight to the pattern!

Haven't given up.

Those of you who follow my other blog, Live Like a Hippy, will have seen me posting like crazy about homemade spa goodies, especially Lip Balm. Have no fear, I haven't stopped crocheting.

I've actually been working on a pattern book! The working title is "Creature Comforts" and it's going to be filled with animal inspired winter gear, for little kids and big kids! So far, I've got a Snuggly Diamond Back scarf, the Shark Attack Hat, a Frog hat, and the Brain Worm Scarf/hat combo.

I'm hoping to come out with roughly a dozen patterns when all is said and done. Also, now that my arm is healed (I fell victim to all the ice in Allentown the other week) I should be able to do a lot more crochet work. I'll gonna finish up the laptop sleeve I'm working on, so I can keep my shiny new Toshiba shiny and new and then dig right back into the Creature patterns.

I've also got a couple of new ideas bouncing around for the Fishin' Buddies booklet. And don't worry, I haven't forgotten that a lot of you are here for the free stuff. I've got a couple ideas in that category too.

So which is it?

It started the other night. Last Wednesday actually. You've probably heard about it. There was a huge Natural Gas explosion here in Allentown. A 3 block walk from my house. Almost.

We're fine, no damage to our house or anything, but let me tell you, the shockwave from an explosion can leave a lasting impression. Knowing that 5 people died in the resulting fire kinda sticks with you too.

My heart goes out to all of the families affected, this is a true tragedy. And made worse by the fact that our Natural Gas infrastructure is a mess and at the rate they're currently fixing things, it'll be roughly the 2nd of Never when the upgrades are finally finished.

We sat and did some math. The necessary upgrades will cost $13 billion to complete. But I was curious, what does that much money look like? How do you get your head around that many zeros. I looked up the population of Allentown and at the most recent estimate it's roughly 111,000 people. Then we said, a Grande White Mocha is $5.50 give or take.

So:

$13 billion divided by 111,000 people, divided by $5.50 per White Mocha, equals approximately 21,000 coffees per person.

21,000 coffees per person divided by 365 days in a year, works out to 58 years and about 2 months.

In other words, the cost of repairing that Natural Gas infrastructure in our little city, is roughly equivalent to free coffee for the entire city for the next 6 decades.

WOW!

That's all very fascinating, but I'm not sleeping now. I've been up until like 2am for something like 7 nights in a row now. Granted Saturday and Sunday I had off and some of those nights I did close at work, but still.

The question is, is this just insomnia triggered by a rather frightening event (a friend of mine actually needs to have repairs done to her living room wall from the shockwave) or am I having some sort of existential crisis. Add in the fact that I have OCD and it's anybody's guess.

All I know, is right now Tylenol Simply Sleep is the only reason I'm getting anything close to enough sleep to keep going. Bleh.

Sock it to Me!

A sock making tutorial, finally. From the top down.

Knit in the round for desired cuff length in desired pattern.

Heel:

Knit halfway around your sock, turn, slip one stitch knitwise, purl back across to second last st, turn, slip one stitch knitwise, knit back across to 2nd last stitch of previous Row. Continue in the pattern, working one less stitch each time, until approximately 6 stitches remain.

Starting next row, work on more stitch each row until you've worked 1 stitch past first row of heel.

Foot:

work in desired desired pattern until foot comes up to base of toes.

Toe: knit 1, knit 2 together, knit until 3 stitches short of halfway point, knit 2 together, knit 2, knit 2 together, knit across until 3 stitches remain, knit 2 together, knit 1

repeat until 6-12 stitches remain (depending on weight of yarn - less stitches for thicker yarn), sew toe closed and finish off.