Earflaps for Shredders

Happy boys in their new beanies and ready to cause trouble...

My daughter Nikki and I headed up to Lake Tahoe this morning so we could deliver my oldest son Cody some birthday presents (26 last week) and have brunch together.. it is about 1 1/2 hours from us and we try to get together a couple times a month.

This photo shows him on the right and his boss, Keith, on the left wearing their new beanies - I had posted a photo of Keith's a few days ago, but then Cody was teaching him how to blog and showed him mine as an example, and there went the surprise; hey, it's all good, after all, look how happy and ready to get rowdy in the snow they both look. They work at Tahoe Sands Resort in Tahoe Vista, part of which is in the background.... lots of snow right now, but they have one of the finest sandy beaches at the lake in summer (shameless plug for them).

Cody's hat is made from Red Heart's Light and Lofty, which I find a little stiff, but he really loved the non-itchy feeling and how dense the hat is... the winds can be pretty tough up on the mountain and he wanted a hat that blocked more of it than the white Sirdar earflap hat he got at Christmas (have to save that for spring riding).

Nikki and I came home through Nevada City, where we stopped at my LYS, Meadowfarm Yarn Studio, and ran into my co-worker, Jade, and her mother, both excited at the prospect of getting together for tomorrow's first Stitch n' Bitch... Jade was purchasing yarn to begin her very first sweater! I am looking forward to being able to help and encourage her through.

Nikki does not knit (she looked a little sheepish, no pun intended, when the clerk asked, but admitted that I had taught all three of my children when they were wee, using home-made wood dowel needles and chunky wools... she even made herself a pair of mittens which we felted), so she got the GOOD DAUGHTER rating for browsing around with me. Her high marks as daughter earned her the promise of a scarf when she found a ball of Sirdar Snuggly Confetti in her favorite shade of pink (the red scarves and shrug come first, I promise). She also put in a request for gloves, since she wears a hat only in extreme necessity, even after all these years of mountain winters, preferring hoods on her coats. We fondled Debbie Bliss' Cashmerino, but she is allergic to wool, so I decided to locate the pattern first and then the yarn (how could I be having such a sensible moment in a yarn store?!)