Etsy Store is up and running!

I’ve been busily crocheting away and snapping pictures to get an Etsy store up and running.  I might as well do something productive while supervising the kiddos this summer, huh? 

This is the link to my Etsy store – mybusyhands.

And here are some pictures of the dishcloths that I have placed up for sale.  Right now everything is crochet, I’ll probably add some knitted ones later on:

In addition to crocheting, work has been fairly demanding for a part-time job.  A lot of training that I’m putting on this summer.  We have been able to make it to the swimming pool finally – both boys have been very excited to go swimming almost daily. 

It had to happen someday….

I made it down to the heel flap on Patriotic Betsy Sock #1 and was a few inches down the leg of sock #2 when I put my knitting down this morning and came downstairs to check the computer.  About 30 minutes later, I hear my husband ask S “S what are you doing with mommy’s knitting?  Did you unravel that?” 

*sigh* 

I ran upstairs to a pile of unraveled yarn and my dpns scattered around the living room floor.  :(  It had to happen sometime – I think it does to everyone who knits with small kids in the house.    At least it wasn’t the other sock that is about 7″ long…. 

I’ve also been working on cotton dishcloths that I’m planning on putting up in my etsy store once I crochet up a big enough selection to be interesting to anyone.  Here is one of the patterns I’ve been playing with that I really like:

Patriotic Socks in Progress….

After swearing off kit-of-the-month clubs in scrapbooking, I found myself lured into theknitter.com’s sock of the month club.  There is something so seductive about yarn and a pattern carefully selected by a sock expert showing up at my door every month for such a reasonable price!   

I’ve got April and May’s kits waiting for me, but when I opened June’s kit last week, I couldn’t wait to get started, even though it meant going out of order.  They are a wonderfully fun zig zaggy lace pattern with the cutest striped sock yarn by Regia.  Here is one of them a couple of days into the process:

These are definitely going to take a bit longer than the toe-up socks, because I’m back down to 2.5mm needles. I’m enjoying the pattern, however. Happy knitting!

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!