A Knit Dilemma of Presidential Proportions

On October 8, 2016November 13, 2016 By aftheadIn stories, Tickles my afthead, Tiny Knit Presidential Election14 Comments

Have you seen the amazing Mochimochi Land knit presidential candidates? The maker of my favorite tiny knits released this adorable free pattern the day of the first presidential debate. I was smitten! What a perfect project to distract me from the debacle our United States election has become.

tiny-candidates — Image from Mochimochi Land

My plan was to knit one candidate during the first debate and the other during the second debate. I didn’t feel like I had the right Trump skintone yarn, so I started with Hillary.

Isn’t she adorable? My daughter thinks she looks like a mermaid, because her legs are so short. It took exactly one debate to go from yarn to tiny first-woman-supported-by-a-major-political-party-for-president. I was a bit miffed when big unknit Hillary walked out to debate in a red pantsuit (Hello! Did someone neglect to tell the candidates about their party color schemes?) but I stuck with Democrat blue for tiny knit Hillary.

Now here’s my problem. I intended a balanced approach to this knitting project, but did you happen to see the news this weekend? I’m not sure I want a tiny knit Trump in my female majority household. Now, tiny knit Trump doesn’t have a mouth (neither does tiny Hillary) so I won’t need to worry about him saying distasteful things, but will I be able to leave him alone? Will he make inappropriate moves on the Barbie Dolls? What about the Lego Friends girls? Will they be safe? What if Ken and the Lego boys see tiny knit Trump act disrespectful and think his behavior is okay? Do I want my toy room to become a hostile environment like that? Or do I believe that was all part of tiny knit Trump’s past and now he’ll follow a script and be respectful. Such a knitting dilemma.

Suggestions are welcome. In the meantime the toys are conferring.

Thank you to Anna Hrachovec for the amazing pattern! Please see http://mochimochiland.com/2016/09/free-pattern-tiny-trump-and-tiny-hillary/ for the pattern and visit her site at http://mochimochiland.com/.

A Knit for One Hundred Years

On October 5, 2016October 5, 2016 By aftheadIn Uncategorized7 Comments

How do you acknowledge 100 years of life? The invitation clearly said “no gifts” but my fingers itched to make something to celebrate my grandmother-in-law’s birthday. I wanted to make something soft, useful, bright and bold because she loves red and purple as all 100 year-olds should.

Nothing in my stash seemed right, so I was off to my local yarn shop. Not only did they have this amazing purple alpaca yarn with bright pink highlights, but they recommended the perfect pattern, Trillian and even had a sample so I could see and hold it: an asymmetrical narrow shawl that could be worn several ways. It would be pretty, soft, elegant and functional. Thank goodness for real world yarn shops.

I had never knit a shawl before or anything this big on size 3 needles, and time and birthdays wait for no knitter. It didn’t take me long to realize this was a more involved project than I had anticipated. The knitting began to take over every moment of my free time and several moments of my not free time. Soccer practices, conference calls, long drives, and parties all became opportunities to knit. My husband drove everywhere so I could knit. I became a public knitter out of desperation. At the end I used my plane trip to Austin to knit for 2 hours non-stop each way.

Deadlines are motivating and two days before the big party I cast off my last stitch and wove in the ends. Blocking opened the lace edge and hid the little snare from my cat’s attempt to drive me absolutely crazy with her disrespect of the knitting. The day of the party I wrapped up the finished object in tissue and set it in the gift bag. 10,570 stitches to celebrate her life. It seemed like a big present. Maybe too big.

Truthfully, I had never knit anything for her before. My in-laws aren’t crafters, so I had not made things for them, because I never knew if they would be appreciated. I set my lone gift bag next to a basket overflowing with cards. Everyone else had followed the rules. I was so nervous that my hand-cramping gift would be frowned upon that I didn’t ask her to open it. After she danced, ate, and celebrated with a room full of friends and family I said, “I made you something” as I told her goodbye. Desperate that my little gift bag not be thrown away or misplaced I also told my father-in-law, and his sister. I was worried that she wouldn’t like it, but terrified that she’s never see it.

When the phone rang the next evening with her number displayed on the caller id my stomach flipped as I answered the phone. “Johanna,” she said in her creaky voice, “I love my shawl. Thank you so much for thinking of me.” She loved it. She loved the color. She said, “I wish it was cold so I could wear it now.” And just like her grandson – my husband – the thank yous were done and we were off the phone in under five minutes. Who knew brevity was an inherited trait?

Tomorrow it’s supposed to dip into the 40s. I hope she wears the shawl. I like to picture her playing bridge, at choir practice, or doing crosswords at home wrapped up in warm softness made by my hands. She is 100 in age, but still lives in her own house, does laundry in her basement, and leads an independent life even after being widowed the day I was born. In the end, my 10,570 stitches are nothing compared to her 36,525 days on this Earth.

Help Me Pick my Yarn – Phase 2

On July 13, 2016July 13, 2016 By aftheadIn Knitting9 Comments

Four months ago I posted an exciting knitting contest, and finally, I can announce the results. Just in case you haven’t been holding your breath for three months awaiting the results of this knitting contest, here is a reminder. I’m making the Purl Soho stitch block cowl. I need three colors of yarn and was deciding between these three options:

The Yarn

Sunset Cowl

Scottish Cowl

The voting from March was close, but the Hobbit Cowl emerged as a narrow favorite:

Option 1 – Hobbit Cowl – 4 votes

Option 2 – Sunset Cowl – 3 votes

Option 3 – Scottish Cowl – 2 votes

After getting distracted by my sweet daughter batting her super long eyelashes at me and asking for a new blankie, I finally wrapped up the first panel of the cowl.

Isn’t it pretty, and cool and texture-y? Now it’s time to add in color two and three! I have to make a decision. This is a pricey project both from a supply and time perspective, so I really want to get it right. I decided that the only thing to do was to start knitting swatches to see what I really like best.

The world’s longest most ridiculous swatch. (No, I didn’t check gauge with it. Why do you ask?)

Eleven swatches later I’ve decided I really do like the colors selected by the blogosphere. If only I were a more trusting person I could have saved myself a few hours. (You readers are SO smart!) Except…the decision isn’t done! One section has two colors and the other has three colors. I need to decide which color is in the two-color section. Readers, I turn to you for guidance again. Which option should I choose?

In the Shire

In the Mood-y Green

Is the left version with Shire as the second color better, or is the Moody Green, on the right, better? Please help me decide before I leave on vacation, so I know which color to pack, because I know I won’t get through all 20 inches in a week. Thank you!

Mommy, Make Me a Blankie?

On June 24, 2016June 24, 2016 By aftheadIn Knitting14 Comments

When my baby girl was still in my tummy I nested with crafting projects. I made her a huge Amy Butler flower pillow that she could do tummy time on, as a baby, and sleep on, as a kid. I made curtains to match. After she was born my mom and I made her a crib skirt that matched them both. I also bought machine washable Encore yarn to crochet her a huge granny square blanket and then soft organic cotton Sprout to knit her a blankie. I have books of Baby Cashmerio patterns and the yarn needed to make a tiny striped cardigan and beret.

It was a surprise to me that new motherhood did not leave much time for knitting. Even when the baby was asleep, she was often in my arms, or my hands were busy with laundry, dishes, or pumps. Once I went back to work my hands were on my computer when they weren’t with my baby. The infant years were not for knitting.

Fast forward eight years. During the crap-moving part of our basement remodel my daughter found the two bins of yarn I’d purchased before her birth. When I told her what my plans had been she said, “Mommy, will you make me a blankie now?” Without a second thought I put aside my knitting in progress and started planning her blankie. When your eight-year-old asks for a handknit you knit.

We dove into the bins. I had hoped she’d pick the Sprout, but the anti-itchy girl decided the Encore was better. At one point I had a whole rainbow of colors, but somehow only a three-quarter rainbow was in the bin. No matter, she loved it.

Then we searched patterns. One look in my Ravelry library and she picked the Chevron Baby Blanket, not even caring that it said “baby”. It looked easy and fun, so away I knit. Between the zigzags, the yarn overs, and the color switches the blanket flew on my needles. I was smart and wove in ends as I went. Little Afthead is learning how to knit and even took a few stitches in the last green stripe and helped with the bind off. A few snips of loose yarn bits and it was ready to block. I showed it to my kiddo and she hugged it and drug it off to bed. Who can argue with this kind of instant love?

Today while she was at camp I snuck it out of her bed so I could take a few pictures of the still unblocked and unwashed finished product.

Here are the knitting details for the knitters.

Yarn – Worsted Encore in 5 colors (I used half a skein for the two colors with 4 rows and about a third for the other three)
Pattern – Chevron Baby Blanket
Pattern modifications – used a different color repeat than listed and didn’t purl the yarn overs through the back loop. (Do any of my knitting readers know how to do that?)
Needles – Addi Turbo Click Lace, size 9
Ravelry Link – http://ravel.me/afthead/cbb

Now, I’m back to my previous project. Remember that gorgeous cowl I had color elections for awhile back? Well, I’ve just started knitting it again. I’m still in the boring neutral section (because of a request from my daughter, see above blog words) but soon though I’ll be able for the big reveal on what colorway won! Just pretend you still care even though it is months later…

Help me pick my yarn

On March 7, 2016March 7, 2016 By aftheadIn Uncategorized19 Comments

I’ve started a new knitting project and I am looking to the blogosphere to help me choose my yarn. The pattern is the Purl Soho stitch block cowl. It’s a gorgeous cowl with three blocks of knitting: one neutral section; one neutral and solid section; and one neutral, solid and variegated section. the below image is from Purl Soho’s site. Isn’t it beautiful? The knitting is filled with techniques I’ve never used and amazing color, so there is so much fun to be had; I love this project.

stitch-block-cowl-600-10

The neutral block is on the needles, and that color is a done deal, but I’m torn about the solid (equivalent of the yellow in the Purl Soho picture) and the variegated (the equivalent of the gold/maize in the Purl Soho picture). I’ve got three choices and would love to hear your thoughts about the relative beauty or not-beauty of each one. I love them all, but they are so different, and I really don’t want to make three cowls (because I’d have to buy six more skeins of the neutral color and that would be a lot of money and time and cowls.)

Option 1 – The Hobbit Cowl – Earthy and dark, reminiscent of little underground homes.

Color 1: Purl Soho’s Worsted9832 Twist in Sea Salt

Color 2: Madelinetosh Tosh Merino in Shire

Color 3: Purl Soho’s Worsted Twist in Moody Green

Option 2 – The Sunset Cowl – White puffy clouds set afire by the setting sun

Color 1: Purl Soho’s Worsted Twist in Sea Salt

Color 2: Madelinetosh Tosh Merino in Spicewood

Color 3: Purl Soho’s Worsted Twist in Clementine Orange

Option 3: The Scottish Cowl – The variety of Highland greens enjoyed with a cup of tea.

Color 1: Purl Soho’s Worsted Twist in Sea Salt

Color 2: Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage in Earl Grey

Color 3: Purl Soho’s Worsted Twist in Cardamom Green

Which option calls to you, my blogging friends? Leave your thoughts in the comments. I’ve probably got a week until I need the other solid, so vote soon, and vote often. Thanks for your help!

My parenting mantra? Sit on your hands.

On February 28, 2016February 28, 2016 By aftheadIn Uncategorized16 Comments

If you could hear inside my head you would hear the mantra repeated over and over.

Sit on your hands. She’s doing fine.

Sit on your hands. You already know how to sew.

Sit on your hands. She is feeding herself and who cares if there is applesauce in her eyebrows?

It takes literal physical restraint for me to let my daughter do it herself sometimes. I see her struggling and I just want to reach out and help her, to get her past the hard part, to do it for her, but I don’t. My hands start to move from my side toward her and I stop them. It is the hardest, most important parenting lesson I teach myself over and over: she will only learn to do it for herself if I stay out of her way.

Friday night she decided she wanted to learn how to knit, again. This will be the third time I have taught her. Each time I have knit to show her, then sat behind her and knit with her hands over mine, then sat on my hands and let her knit, and by knit I mean drop stitches, make stitches with an accidental yarn over, created twisted stitches, knit the same stitch twice and finally give up in frustration. So we put the knitting away for another time.

This time we started the same way, but at the end of the night when she had eight stitches, instead of the twelve I cast on, and a couple of large holes in her work, she didn’t get frustrated. She just said, “That’s okay. This one is just practice.”

Then she put her work down, kissed it, and said “I’ll see you in the morning knitting!”

I didn’t pick it up for her. I did not go back and fix the mistakes. I walked past the five rows on her needles and saw what I might be able to teach her to make her work better but I did not do it for her. I sat on my hands, because I already know how to knit.

Saturday she picked it up again. Now she has three holes and fifteen stitches, but five inches of something that looks like knitting. She’s so proud. She wants to take it to our friend’s house today, because that mom is a knitter too, and she wants to show off.

We hauled out my first knitting project, a lovely burnt orange…thing, and looked at my holes and my wonky first attempts next to hers and talked about why they were different and how they were the same. As she watches me finish my first adult size sweater she understands that I started, twelve years ago, with something that looks just like what she’s making now.

“Mom, you’ve only been knitting for twelve years. If I start now, imagine how good I’ll be when I’m your age!”

It’s true, but she’ll only get that good if she does it for herself and I keep sitting on my hands.

Knitting Knews

On January 21, 2016January 21, 2016 By aftheadIn Knitting, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I know you are all dying to know, “But Johanna, what’s going on with your knitting?” Well let me tell you, the thrummed slipper is coming along magnificently. The sole of the first one is done. The outside, or bottom is the brown side with the yellow v’s. The inside, where the bottom of my foot will go, is the side with the fuzzy yellow caterpillar looking thrums. Next I just need to knit up the foot and then add more thrums to the top of the slipper. I’m expecting coziness for one foot soon. Sadly, since I’m on the road, I had to abandon my slippers for a bit. Thrums are cool, but not travel friendly. I’m hopeful that with a Sunday of football ahead of me I can get the first one done. Then we’ll see if I make the second one next, or make a pair for my demanding daughter first.

One more update on the hat I knit for my friends with the sick little girl. I heard back from them. They love the hat and it fits perfectly. I was so worried, but then a friend at work said, “Of course it was going to fit. It had to fit.”

She’s right. Sometimes fate, or God, or the powers that be make sure that things work out. The hat had to fit. It has been called, “The coolest hat ever” by several admirers. The pom pom is also adored. This makes my heart happy.

There, feel better? You are all up to date on the knitting news…except, there may be another hat in the works. This time for me!

Old knitting dog learns new trick

On January 13, 2016January 13, 2016 By aftheadIn Knitting, Uncategorized2 Comments

I have a few skills I’d say I’ve mastered. Knitting is one of them. I’m no Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, but who is? There’s a difference between a knitting master and a jedi-knit-knight. I’m a master because there isn’t much that intimidates me. Sure, I have to remind myself how to read lace charts, and I refuse to deal with 80 bobbins of yarn to create intarsia, and I’m always watching videos of different cast on techniques, but the things I don’t know how to do are just things I’ll try someday and when I do I’ll turn out a passable product. I know how to fix mistakes, I know when to just turn a knitted item back to a ball of yarn. I can throw and pick and strand and design. I know how to knit. It really doesn’t surprise me anymore.

Well, today a miracle happened. One of my favorite blogs is SouleMama. I feel like SouleMama is bizarro me. She has five kids, homeschools them and lives on a farm. I have one kid who has been in “school” since 13 weeks and I live in a city. Her life intrigues me, because I can see myself in it. If somehow we had been switched at birth I can imagine living in a homestead filled with children all wearing the clothes I made them with my own hands tending our flock of sheep. (I’d homeschool them so that their friends wouldn’t laugh at my inept seamstress skills.)

On Monday Amanda, the author of SouleMama, posted about their family activities during the rainy weekend, and she included a picture of this crazy knitting project with yarn on double pointed needles and fluff hanging out of it. No explanation, just a pictures, but I was intrigued. I commented on her post guessing that she was creating roving lined mittens. Well today her post was all about the thrummed mittens she’d created. I took a deep breath. In thirteen years of knitting I have never heard of thrumming. This was something new. I tore through her post. I started searching Ravelry and Etsy. Thrumming is a thing. It is an amazing technique where every few stitches instead of stitching your yarn you knit in some fluffy roving. It makes garments that are soft and fuzzy on the inside and super warm. I love that thrumming incorporates color and texture into projects in new ways. I was giddy. I sent the post and patterns I found to knitting friends and tried to get them all on the thrumming bandwagon.

Where to start? Well, I stopped at the local yarn shop on my way home, bought a hunk of roving for $6 and then came home and bought a slipper pattern that I adore: Cadeautje by Ysolda Teague. The roving I bought is an odd mustardy green roving so I can’t make the cool rainbow slippers featured on the pattern yet, but I dug deep into my stash and found some really ancient chunky alpaca wool blend that meets the designers suggestion for yarn and looks pretty darn cool with the roving.

Let me lay this out to you. For a $6 roving investment and a $5 pattern investment I am going to embark on a new stashbusting project to create wool/alpaca fluffy lined slippers. Can you imagine anything more dreamy on your foot? Then I can move onto mittens, funky earflap hats, and glasses cases. It’s a miracle! I am so excited. Now, off to read a couple of thrumming technique blogs before I cast on.

Finally, I’ve gotta be honest here, thrumming?!?! Can you imagine a cooler word for a new knitting technique? Thrum, thrum, thrum. Eeek!

There is a tiny girl

On January 8, 2016January 30, 2016 By aftheadIn stories14 Comments

There is a tiny girl. Her story is not my story, but her parents. Her parents are my friends and like most children of my friends she got a hat when she entered this world. A hat with a poof as big as her head.

IMG_4544_medium2
She got sick in her second fall and after days and weeks and months of horrible tests the worst imaginable diagnosis came back, but that is their story, not mine.
It’s winter now and my hands have longed to help my friends. We bought them meals, but I wanted to do something personal, so I cast on a hat. A bigger hat with a tiny pom pom. A hat with a brim, because it is cold this January and my friends are so cool. Their daughter needs a hat to keep her warm this winter. Her parents need a hat that tells them their friend still thinks about them and cares. I hope it isn’t too big, because the tiny girl may not have time to grow into things, and that is the tragedy. There is a tiny girl, and soon she will have a new hat knit with love and sorrow and friendship for her, her family, for all they have endured and all they have yet to endure.

Knitting Knew Year

On January 1, 2016January 1, 2016 By aftheadIn Knitting, Uncategorized11 Comments

Oh my blogging friends, I have missed you. Since December 10th I’ve had gum surgery, had an allergic reaction to my antibiotics, got canker sores at each of the 17 sites I had stitches in my mouth and pulled off the annual miracle we call Christmas. I have so much to tell you! There are posts floating around my head about friends, Christmas, books, gum surgery, anniversaries and work. And so many blogs to read! I am terribly behind! So to ease my way out of my no-blogging streak, I’ll start with the knitting I accomplished over the last few weeks.

#1: Headband and fingerless gloves for mom

A few weeks before Christmas mom asked me if I could knit her a headband. I have a knitting pattern I love for headbands. I’ve made at least four of them, and they come together in no time. The pattern is just interesting enough to keep me engaged and it comes together in a flash.

Normally, I’m not a fan of lace or cables in variegated yarn, but there were very important reasons I used this yarn for this project: it was in my stash, it is pretty, and it isn’t itchy. Both my mom and my daughter have a severe dislike for wool and find things itchy that I think are soft and smooth. As a knitter, that’s a bummer, but when someone asks you to make one of your favorite knitted projects, you do what you can with what you have on hand and that meant variegated alpaca. (Especially because I couldn’t drive to the local yarn shop while taking heavy duty painkillers. However, I could manage to follow lace and cable charts. Go figure.)

This is my favorite of these headbands I’ve made. I used a smaller needle (10) and it’s much nicer in a tighter knit: it isn’t so loosy goosey on your head, it’s warmer, and it isn’t as wide across the head as my other ones. I stitched on an antique button and voila! Christmas gift finished…. except… there was a decent amount of yarn left. So, I started hunting on Ravelry for patterns that didn’t need much yarn and could be knit on a size 10 needle. When I came across these owl fingerless gloves I knew I had my winner. My mom has given me patterns with these cabled owls on them before, and mentioned her knitting friends making them. These subliminal hints meant she would love them. I couldn’t resist! I was nervous though, because the pattern called for 100 yds of chunky yarn, my skein only had 110 yards to begin with, and I’d already knit a headband. Feeling braved and doped up, I cast on my first mitt. I shortened the cuff a bit, and in the end had about three yards of yarn to spare. Plenty! I had to go to the craft store on Christmas Eve Eve for the button eyes, and stitched them on just in time. I’m thrilled with the pattern and the results. The mitts are soft, pretty, and practical. My mom loved the set.

#2: Mittens for the kiddo

Feeling inspired after Christmas, and with my mouth still in agony, I picked up my sweater I’ve been working on for a few years and started to work on it. I cast on the neckline and got that finished, but I’m worried it’s too short and a bit wonky. Ugh. Hoping blocking would fix my problem, I started to finish up the sleeves until I was waylaid by a little voice and some big blue eyes saying, “Mommy, would you make me some gloves?” Well, knowing that my daughter never asks for knitted objects and often turns her nose up at sweaters made out of yarn softer than butter, I seized the opportunity. However, I don’t love anyone enough to make gloves – all those fingers to get the right size and all those joins, gak – but she was okay with mittens, but with tops. “Not like Nanna’s mittens.” Back to the yarn closet, and this time we found two skeins of yarn that met her color and “not itchy” requirements.

One Monday night football game and the one with the thin striped was done. She tried it on and loved it. Then I asked, “Do you want them the same, or mismatched?” I was telepathically sending her “mismatched” vibes, because second mittens are so boring. My powers must be strong, because she was thrilled with the idea of coordinated mittens. One day of college bowl games today and the second one was done.

Her nine year old friend dubbed them “Totally cool” this evening so I know they will be worn the rest of the winter. They could use some blocking, but given how much they’ve already been on her hands they may end up staying a little irregular. I’d rather have them loved than perfect.

Pay no attention to my messy house in the background. Did I not mention gum surgery and Christmas? (Ha ha, just kidding you. My house is always messy.)

Happy Knew Year!