Riot and Frolic

Hats for Everyone

'Round about 5 years ago, I found a post on Purl Soho's blog for a simple knitted hat.   I did not know how to knit at all, but I wanted to make that damn hat.

Super Soft Merino Hats for Everyone pattern from Purl Soho

I figured my years of crocheting would somehow power me through a knitting marathon and I could whip out a family of hats in a weekend.  

But similarly to how I cannot successfully complete a ballet class after years of ballroom training, I could not knit this. damn. hat.  

I bought all the yarn, the needles (the double pointed things!), and well, just those two things, and got to work.  But the whole knitting in a circle bit was confusing and it wasn't looking right.  

After a couple tries, I stopped.  Gave up.  Said, "Knitting is not for me!" with great finality.

But these hats were haunting me.  Apparently, I subscribed to Purl Soho's mailing list, so I'd get updated versions of this same hat every year or so: New Colorways!  With Monograms! You Can Do It!

This winter, in another effort to embrace koselig and in an attempt to somewhat brand my children, the hat plan came back. 

With the website pulled up on my phone, I marched into the fancy yarn store (the Yarnery, for you locals) and announced, "I need to make this."

The quite tall, distinguished, bearded gentleman working looked at my screen and pointed me to the correct yarn.  Once I'd picked up one skein (I wasn't all in mentally at this point, despite my confidence and location), I admitted my very rough knowledge of knitting and asked what else I needed (AKA, "please help me pick out the right needles from the 15 different kinds offered and tell me what class I need to sign up for").  

The awesome guy handed me the "needles he would use", gave me the lowdown on all the classes offered (including private lessons), told me about some "magic loop" method that's "really easy", and also wrote down his favorite YouTube knitting channel (KnitFreedom, thank you!).

That night, I loaded up the YouTubes, watched three different videos (how to cast on, how to do the magic loop business, and how to purl), and started up.  And then kept going.

And then, a few days later... I finished!  But wait...

Prototype and final product

As the Sesame Street song goes, one of these things is not like the other.  The hat I had just finished is on the left, my final product is on the right.  It was kind of bell shaped and... not The Hat.

Back to YouTube to watch a tutorial on "how to knit".  Yes, maybe I should have watched that one in the first place.  

I had done something a little wonky on that first one, and while it was fine, I wanted that damn hat I had found five years ago.  

I started again and this time it worked.

It worked six more times, too! 

Life lesson [from knitting? YES, life lessons come from the coolest places):

It wasn't very fun to

a) admit defeat at something I wanted

b) be a beginner walking into a place where everyone seems to be an expert (and possibly is)

c) start over because I didn't have the correct information the first time around

It IS very fun to

a) complete a long-awaited goal

b) learn from my mistakes

c) give someone a handmade gift that they like

d) attain a new skill

What'd you learn in 2017?  And more importantly, WHAT WILL YOU LEARN THIS YEAR?

Being a Mom Means Throwing Stuff Away

This is a regular day in my house; I find pieces of art made especially for me all. over. the. house.

On my desk:

On my refrigerator:

More on my refrigerator:

On my reading material:

I have found art in the bathroom especially for me as well (because they know I hide there sometimes).

At the end of last year, each kid brought home a completely full grocery bag full of paper that was really important and special.

And let's not mention the theme weeks that SOMEONE organizes that creates a buttload of collateral every week.

A million years ago, a friend of mine tweeted something to the effect of "being a parent means having to throw stuff away" and it hurt my heart at the time.  I mean, what about the beautiful works of art made especially for me?  Apparently, this was before my children were sufficient at holding and using any sort of writing instrument because EVERY DAY.  WORKS OF ART. FOUR KIDS. ESPECIALLY FOR ME.

It's too much.  

When the girls were younger, I did this cute, Pinterest-inspired  thing where each girl had a three-ring binder where we could put really important and special items, like their graduation certificates from swim classes and their modern take on a rainbow using a monochromatic palette and the first time they wrote their name.

But then I looked at it a year later and wondered why we kept all this crap.  

I know, I know.  I'm an unfeeling wench.

But even I knew, as a recovering pack rat, that they wouldn't care about that stuff in one year, let alone 10 or 20.  I remember keeping school projects from fourth grade and boxes full of journals for years before realizing they were not important.  Sure, they served a purpose at the time, but not for all time.

So, they give me their coloring pages and modern art collages and their graded papers and I congratulate them on a job well done and I stick really impressive ones on the fridge for a day or two, or maybe take a picture of them [or maybe stash them in my file cabinet if they are terribly heart-breaking adorable], and I THROW THE REST AWAY.  

High five for minimalism!  

Theme Weeks : When Everyone Ends Up Crying

In case some of you thought it was all rainbows and fairies and cupcakes around here, I thought you needed to know about this week's theme : Picnics.

Despite an unbelievable haul from the library, Picnic Week has mainly been a bust because, as you Minnesotans know, it's monsoon season here.  

Two picnics (including an excursion to the St. Paul Saints berm) have been cancelled due to inclement weather.  Boo.  Hiss.

While the food was still great last night (Thug Kitchen's Butternut Squash Queso(ish) Dip! surprisingly cheese-like! way delicious!), it was time for a rain-check craft.  We had a cool t-shirt designing kit that I had been saving for just an occasion.

Despite multiple efforts and techniques used, our t-shirts were a big FAIL and everyone ended the night crying into a bowl of M&Ms (except me! well, I didn't have the crying part, I DID have the M&M part).  

Here's the theme week breakdown for the summer, if you'd like to follow along (you can check out my Pinterest board for theme weeks if you're looking for more projects):

Picnic Week

• um, picnics?
• geocaching
• books (to be listed shortly)

Rubber Band Week

• geoboard
• exploding a watermelon with rubber bands

Butterfly Week

• visit a butterfly garden
• watch Flight of the Butterflies
• books 
• make butterfly pasta

Red, White, and Blue Week

• pick strawberries
• fireworks
• make pinwheels

Rain Week 

• make a rain gauge
• that crazy shaving cream and food coloring rain cloud 
• make a raindrop suncatcher

Color Week

• make rock candy!
• make paper spinners
• rainbow smoothies
• paint on wet glue
• Sharpie and rubbing alcohol t-shirts

Star Week

• visit the planetarium
• watch Star Wars
• constellation flashlights

Nature Week

• scavenger hunt
• nature walk bracelets
• visit the Forest History Center

Boat Week

• make boats out of egg cartons
• ... origami
• ... twigs
• ... corks
• see the Tall Ship Festival

Flower Week

• make paper flowers
• make bubble paint hydrangeas
• make rainbow roses

Heat Week

• play with a giant ice cube
• make paper fans
• make ice cream
• visit a splash pad

Hope you're enjoying your summer!

Holy Sh!t, It's Summer Vacation

This is the first year where "summer vacation" actually means a break from the usual.  Since .5 of the kids were in school, there is a definite change coming to our routine.

I'm not scared.

Well, not much.

And because I'm insane, I made a few things to prepare:

A) vintage-cute dresses.

Once they find an outfit they like, they wear it every day until I make them throw it in the laundry, so I'm just trying to have less laundry here.

I used a pattern and I even re-learned how to sew on a curve (and how to use elastic to make gathers and how to use bias tape to finish a seam real nice).  The pattern is Simplicity 8101 and it coordinates with the adult Simplicity 1080 by the insanely-popular-in-the-maker-world Dottie Angel bloggess.

B) summer books.

Mostly to keep them out of my room at the crack of dawn, I grabbed a couple Moleskine journals, wrote the date on the top of each page, and gave them writing prompts for each day.  Too young to read and write?  DON'T CARE.  DO IT ANYWAYS.  (Zoo mostly reads and can write if you tell her how to spell everything, so we're pretty set, but TEAMWORK).  

There's also Math Mondays, where they get a number (up to 10,000) and then V (2nd grade) does this:

1. write the number
2. draw the number 
3. add 3
4. add 25
5. subtract 5
6. subtract 17
7. write the next 3 even numbers
8. write the next 3 odd numbers

or this happens (K or preschool set) with little numbers:

1. write it
2. draw it
3. count to it
4. add 1
5. subtract 1
6. add 2
7. subtract 2
8. count backward from it

And there's "Lettersday" (say it with a Scottish accent, and it totally makes sense) on Thursday where they write a letter to someone.

Their chores written out as well.  

With all that, I'm pretty sure they won't get stupider over the break.

And that should give me 20 minutes of sleep, right?

Adventures Time : Part One

Okay, I'll admit.  I haven't been present for a full half of the ADVENTures this year.  But I've liked all the ones I've witnessed.  And that is something.  

Day 1 : pinecone ornaments

Is it just me, or does anyone else say "pinecorn"?

I grabbed some pine...coooonnneees, a few jingle bells, a couple sticks of cinnamon, some yarn, and my brand new glue gun and asked the girls how they wanted to glue it all together.  We got ornaments that are rustic, vaguely similar to the inspirational ones, and I got to use a glue gun.  BAM.

Day 2 : yarn-wrapped door

We've already discussed this here. 

Day 3 : make marshmallows

This one is so great.  Everyone has an easy job (Zoo prepped the pan, Mae Cake threw the gelatin in the water, V kept an eye on the candy thermometer, I handle the hot stuff), it takes maybe 20 minutes, watching the ingredients go from boring to marshmallow fluff is NEAT, and you GET MARSHMALLOWS OUT OF IT.  

I'm not even a big fan of marshmallows and I dig it.  

Day 4 -12 : things that I missed

We had an odd work and travel itinerary these days and we have amazing friends and relatives who will babysit our kids.  

BUT NOW IT'S ON!

Day 13 : Santa Lucia crowns

IKEA (where once a Santa Lucia parade happened upon me while trying to make a bottle for a baby) and the phrase "star boy hats" put the whole Santa Lucia thing high on my list this year. Plus, that whole Nordic thing of totally winning at winter made me want ALL THE NORDIC THINGS.

Day 14 : Santa Lucia parade

We played this and the girls walked (and twirled) solemnly around the house.  

 

Day 16 : cut paper snowflakes

My brothers- and sisters-in-law set the bar very high in this category and I'm always a little disappointed my small children aren't giving those artistic 20-30-somethings more of a challenge.  But you know, practice, and hand-eye coordination, and spatial reasoning and all that probably gets better after age 8, right?

How are your holiday adventures?