Tabasco Sauce as a form of Self Stimming in Autism

We have a unique situation with S that I thought I’d write about because so far I have yet to run across other families with autism that report this same issue.

S has had a high threshold for pain since birth.  The normal bumps, bruises and falls of childhood that would send other kids howling rarely illicit much of a reaction.  I think that it takes a higher level intensity for most kinds of stimulation, including taste for him.  Unlike many kids on the autism spectrum who like bland foods, S craves things like vinegar (loves salt and vinegar chips) and hot sauce of all varieties.  He loves hard boiled eggs, but they need to have a coating of tabasco.  When we go for chicken, he prefers it shredded and then dips it into whatever hot sauce is on the table. 

Lately, when he is bored, he appears to be using Tabasco as a way to self stim.  We have a bottle sitting out on our kitchen table along with the salt, pepper, and napkins.  He will sit there with a cup of lemon water (his favorite drink is water with a hefty dose of plain lemon juice in it – no sugar, just lemon) and place a dollop of Tabasco on his hand, lick it off, wait a couple of seconds (until the burn sets in, I’m guessing), and then take a swig of water and repeat the whole process.  He will sit there and do this for 30 minutes at a time and become very upset if you take the Tabasco away (I’ve hidden it in our locked pantry for now). 

I’d be interested to hear from any other parents of kids on the spectrum if you see this type of behavior in your kids: this seeking stimulation through strong flavors and/or using them as self-stimming behaviors.  So, please, if you see this, I’d love it if you would share.

Twinkle Toes – Toe Up Socks DONE!

 

Well, they are done!  And I think that I’m in love with knitting toe-up socks. 

 I did have some frustration with the lack of instruction from DIY on some key parts of the pattern – the extent of the instruction on how to do a short heel was to “turn and wrap,” rather than “wrap and turn.”  Which would have been great had I ever made a short row anything and knew how to wrap and turn anything.  But, the internet is a wonderful thing, and I found a very helpful video at knittinghelp.com.  The short row heels came out perfectly – that is why I’m in love.  No gaps, no odd looking stitches (the whole near the top in the back is the lace pattern yo).  I simply love these heels!

I chose to do a 2×2 rib at the top, I prefer how it looks coming off of the lace pattern.  My other advice would be not to follow DIY’s video instruction on how to do a sewn bind-off.  It was another thing I had never done before and realized half-way through the first sock that something was wrong with the video clip from Knitty Gritty on how to do it.  I got out my copy of Knitting Answers and realized that they only showed the first step of how to do a sewn bind off, so I went back and redid that sock.  I really like that type of a bind-off for socks – very stretchy and leaves a nice edge. 

So, a big thank you to DIY’s Knitty Gritty & Vicky Howell for putting up the pattern for free on their website.  And thanks to Cookie for making such an easy and beautiful toe-up pattern in Twinkle Toes.   And a big WOW to Blue Sky Fibers for making such awesome Socks that Rock yarn.

Dishcloth Swap from NSBR at Two Peas

Okay, okay.  So, the group of women I “knit with” are all on a scrapbooking forum.  Well, we’re all crafty, aren’t we?  We have a monthly Stitch & Bitch thread running over there and the work that these women do is simply amazing. 

In April we did our first sock knit-along.  I did my first pair of socks for that and have knit 4 pairs since then! 

Then my friend Anna decided to host an NSBR dishcloth swap, because scrapbookers love to participate in swaps.  The unique thing about this swap, however, is that unlike the typical scrapbook swap, only ONE PERSON ended up dropping out.  Approximately 15 people participated – the work was amazing. 

Here are the dishcloths that I received:

This round one is from Jane - a very accomplished knitter – I love the knitting in the round. 

 

The Flying Geese are by LilyBlue – the pattern doesn’t quite show up in my picture, but the trianges in purl stitch are wonderful.  I also love the colors.

This is by Burning Feather – a long time NSBR’r – who appropriately chose a fan and feather pattern in my favorite colors.

And this is by Kim, who did exquisite work, all in pristine white.  Simply stunning.  I’m not sure if I can bring myself to actually do dishes with this cloth. 

Finally, this is one that I did for the swap – this is before I sewed in the tails and blocked it, however.  It is the traveling vine pattern from Smariek. 

Felted Purses

My first knitted project on needles (not counting the knift knitter loom scarves) this year when I started knitting again was a felted purse.  I loved the idea that felting would hide all of the goofs, making felted projects excellent for beginners (even though many are afraid of them). 

Here is that first knitted Booga Bag project (it actually looks better in person than it does in this picture – it really looks kind of funky here):

It turned out to be fairly small – but it is the perfect size for a small lunch bag.  I love the colors in the Lion Brand Wool that I used – a blend of pinks, blues, purples and greens. 

This is the felted bag I made this week.  The pattern is “Vintage Bubble Bag” from the book Pursenalities by Eva Wiechmann.  I used Cascade 220 in brown and Noro Silk Garden.  My bag didn’t felt quite as much as the one pictured in the book, even though I sent it through the washer 3 times.  I think that the silk in the Noro yarn really impedes the overall “felted” look, but is still very nice.  This bag is big enough that I’ll actually be able to use it as a purse (given that I’ve got kids, there has to be room for a small 1st aid kit, anti-bacterial wipes, etc.). 

First Attempt at Toe-up Socks

I’d been considering trying toe-up socks and so was thrilled when going through my digitally recorded hoard of Knitty Grittys on DIY I found the episode where Cookie A. (one of my favorite sock artists – Knitters Anonymous is her blog) was demonstrating how to knit socks from the toe up. 

She, of course, made it look easy!

I downloaded the pattern – Click Here - and went over the Blue Sky to purchase the Socks that Rock Heavyweight yarn that she used.  After a gasp over the sticker shock at the cost for a skein of this yarn, I placed my order. 

When the yarn came in, it went into my stash box and waited for a month, while I finished some other projects.  I pulled it out last night and wound it into two disks.  I printed out the pattern, and then, I sat down to start knitting.  I quickly realized that I needed to watch how she did the Figure 8 cast on again, so I replayed the episode (very helpful).

I ripped the first sock attempt out 3 times before I got a start that I could live with.  The second one was much easier.  (I always knit both socks at the same time – it is especially good when learning a new technique because you get to do it twice before you forget it again).

I have to say that, so far, the pattern is fairly easy to follow.  It also moves quickly because you are using size 4 needles and yarn that appears to be close to light dk in weight.  The yarn, however, is worth its weight in gold.  This Socks that Rock yarn is absolutely heaven to work with – no splitting and it is amazingly soft.  I’m very happy with it. 

 I’m not happy, however, that I found an error in my lace on one of the socks already.  I’m not willing to try to drop down to that stitch to fix it, because I don’t think I could ever recreate everything above it correctly.  I’m trying to learn to live with my knitting goofs, but darn! it is hard sometimes….

Red Striped Socks

I’ve never had a pair of red socks before, so I was intrigued when this ball of Opal yarn was part of the ebay lot I bid on that had the yarn I used on the pair of ankle socks I pictured earlier.  They are a simple garter rib.  I used Charlene Schurch’s Sensational Knitted Socks for the pattern (both of her books are “must haves” for sock knitters).  Anyhow, I decided that red *is* a fun color for socks – I can’t wait until fall and I have a chance to wear these.

I’m not ready!

E’s bus will pull up any minute now and we’ll go to meet S’s bus in 45 minutes.  Even though I ran to Starbucks, Office Depot, Target, Costco and to the school office (to drop off my check for next year’s school supply packs through the PTA) in the two hours that the kids were gone this morning, I’m still not ready for school to be out for the summer.  

E’s going through a phase where it is nearly impossible to take him out shopping without a meltdown, so we’re going to spend a lot of time at home this summer and I’ll go shopping at night after the kids go to sleep.  I did buy a number of age-appropriate workbooks for the boys to work on at Office Depot – hopefully that will help alleviate the boredom.

Thank heavens we can start swimming again in another 2 weeks after E’s clavicle heals some more!

More Dishcloths

I recently participated in a dishcloth swap with a bunch of women at 2Peas (a scrapbooking site) that my friend Anna is hosting.  I decided that since she got so many to participate, that I wanted all of mine to be swapped with other people participating.  So, that left me with wanting to knit one especially for Anna.  I started with the Smariek Twin Leaf Lace Cloth, but it ended up too small (about 7″ square):

So then I went ahead and made a Fir Cone Cloth for Anna in her favorite color: PINK!

Product Review – Crochet Lites by Clover

A crochet hook with a shaft that lights up at the touch of a button, allowing you to crochet in poor light, or see those stitches a little more clearly in odd-colored yarn?  Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?  I’d been eyeing the knitting needles that light up, so was very curious about the crochet hooks.  One of my sons did me the “favor” of losing my size G hook.  I needed it to finish the booties pictured below, so I went to JoAnns online to order a replacement and discovered that they had the Crochet Lites, so I ordered a few sight unseen (none of the stores around here carry them, even though the carry the lighted needles).  

 Big Mistake.

 The hooks finally arrived and I was in the middle of working on a bib with the fine Patons Grace cotton with a size E hook.  I was so excited to try out one of the new hooks: I tore it out of its packaging, picked up my project, and tried to start crocheting.  That is when disappointment set in. 

It appears that Clover picked someone to design the hook who has never crocheted before.  The shaft of the hook is never straight/of uniform diameter in any section.  The base of the hook is quite wide – probably about 3 times the 3.5 mm diameter that a size E hook’s shaft should be, and it then tapers all the way to the hook itself.  There is no portion of the shaft that is straight/remains the same size.  And there is no way to figure out where that 3.5 mm diameter is exactly – I’m guessing that it is right at the hook itself, but I’ve yet to meet anyone who only crochets at the hook itself without using the shaft to ensure that one’s stitches are consistently the same size.  And if you push your stitches up the shaft at all, your diameter quickly goes to something much larger than 3.5mm. 

I’ve pictured my two E hooks side by side so you can see what I am talking about. 

I love Clover’s Soft Touch hooks and was expecting these to be similar, or better.  Unfortunately, they are awful.  Simply awful.  Because the one thing that I *do* need to be able to do with a crochet hook is to make consistent stitches.  And the only way to do that is to have a shaft that has a uniform size, not one that starts out very wide and tapers the whole length of it.   I’m simply amazed that Clover, who usually puts out excellent products, messed this up so badly by letting non-crocheting engineers design the product and then obviously didn’t test the product with real crafters.   However, to be fair, it appears that this is a problem with the smaller hooks – the larger hooks that I purchased (H &  J) have what appears to be standard size and shape shafts.

So, if you you care about gauge and consistent stitch size, look to purchase anything other than Clover Crochet Lites for your smaller hooks. 

ETA:  I received a very courteous email from Clover and they have offered to replace my hooks with Soft Touch ones.   The representative was very concerned. 

ETA2: I heard again from Clover after I sent the above picture.  The representative says that they will contact the company that makes them for Clover and alert them of the issue, and ask them to fix it to get all the lite hooks to conform to the standard sizes.

***Final Update*** – Clover, showing excellent customer service, sent me replacement Soft Touch hooks.  Which, btw, are by far my favorite hooks on all types of yarn. 

One last pair of booties!

The baby blanket, boys booties and blue bibs were dropped off for S’s teacher yesterday, today I’ll drop off the little bag of the pink bib, lace booties and these “ballet slipper” booties for E’s upcoming teacher.  I made these using Lion Brand’s Cotton Ease, which is a pleasure to work with and very soft.