When I was making multiple Ulysses for the admission’s counselors at Cornell College, I had a little bowl of head parts beside a bunch of faces staring at me on my desk. I made five at a time, so it was a funny site sometimes, if a bit macabre.

Hopefully you’re ready to begin putting Ulysses head together. This is not a difficult process, and I’m going to help you through the trickiest parts. Let’s get started-

First of all, I want to point you to the two videos for this post’s work. This video covers details on Ulysses face, and this video the placement of his ears and horns.

 

Above, you’ll see a Ulysses head before the shaping and after. This is done with the long thread left from your cast on for his head. If, by any chance, you’ve already done away with that thread, no worries. Bring up white yarn from base of head to nose area, and close those stitches. This usually just takes one or two small stitches, and won’t be noticeable.

Next, angle your needle toward his cheek area and capture a stitch (you’ll see the stitch pulling the cheeks in below), then stitch across to other cheek, capturing a stitch parallel to the one on the first side. These stitches sit close to the second of the first purl stitches you make on the side of his head. I usually pinch his cheeks in with my fingers until I’m happy with how it looks, and aim for those areas  You’ll then take your yarn back down to the base of head (seen below) and secure.

Once shaping is complete, we will begin on eyes. Thread your black embroidery floss through a darning needle, and insert through base of area toward his eye area. Notice the slight holes made on Ulysses face with the M1s- you will be placing his eyes in the M1s third up from nose. (S ee hacks below for advice if you don’t have embroidery floss in these colors.)

You’ll be making a series of stitches in an almost triangular fashion through the stitches that sit on each side of his eye area. Build up the stitches enough to cover the area completely and send your needle to the other eye area. Once finished, you’ll draw your yarn down to the base of head, pull slightly to give a slight indent to the eyes, and secure.

Once the eyes are complete, you’ll sew on his nose (this is my favorite part because it gives each Ulysses a slightly different look/personality). With your grey embroidery floss, draw up through the base of head toward the nose. You’ll make three long stitches like this-

Then, angle needle down like second photo above, and make a long stitch over the nose stitches, pulling them down in the middle like this-

You will then create a little smile beneath the vertical line. This should not be as long as his nose line is. Make two stitches for his smile and pass threads back through base of head and secure.

Ears! Ulysses ears are sewn on with the purl side showing. You’ll take the two threads on either side of his ears and tie them together like this-

Note that the purl side is out and the knit side is in.

Now you will sew them on the head, with the cupped (knitted) part pointing down and toward his cheeks. Here are the placement stitches for the ears. You’ll want to secure across the top of the ear (the knotted area) and also the bottom part of the cup. Don’t overthink this- if the ears are pleasing to you and sitting still, they will be fine. Draw threads down to base of head.

 

Finally, lets fit Ulysses horns–

The horns sit just above and behind the ears, and they’ll stick straight up at first. Stuff your horns, but don’t overstuff. You want them to be able to bend easily, but still retain shape. Using the white thread from cast on for horns, make stitches around the base of horns to the head. Make sure no stuffing is leaking through. If you have problems keeping the horn in place, feel free to secure temporarily with pins or with one of your DPNs. Pull yarn to base of head. Next, bend horn around the ear and toward the front of head and secure with yarn from cast off. Pull yarn to base of head.

Once you are finished with these pieces, make a large knot with the left over threads and yarn- this will have a stabilizing effect on Ulysses head/neck once we add the body.

Hacks: 

This is a repeat hack from the introduction post. For this section, if you do not have embroidery floss in colors you like, you can use plied yarn or lace or sock weight yarn. For the plied, gently pull apart the yarn until you have the length you need. This can be difficult or very easy- it all depends on the type and brand of yarn you’re using. It will look something like this-