We have been having some gorgeous spring like weather in the past couple of weeks. The boys and I have been playing outside regularly. We have a plum tree that is just the right size for climbing.  JO has no trouble climbing it without help, but JY needs some assistance. JO will climb the tree, and then pull JY up so they can both be in the tree together.

JO boosted JY up so he could have some alone time.

JO wanted me to take his picture while he was hanging upside down.

The next thing in the finished objects parade is Gentleman Toadlily. The pattern, Gentleman’s Fancy Socks by Nancy Bush, was one I’ve been wanting to knit for a long time. The yarn I used was Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Toadlily, and I’m  in love with this color.

I love the way the seam in the stockinette stitch adds interest to an otherwise plain heel.

One of the groups I belong to on Ravelry, Sock Knitters Anonymous, has been challenging it’s members to use yarns that are often “saved” because they are special. So instead of letting them languish in the stash I’ve been trying to knit with yarn I really love, and boy am I glad I chose this one.

I know most of you living on the East coast and in Canada still have tons of snow around, but here in Washington State we are ready for spring.  After having the warmest January on record, all the plants and animals think it’s time for spring.  Our Daffodils are blooming, trees are flowering, and we even had to mow the lawn already.  BUT for the sake of those who are still stuck in the throws of winter I will post the day we went out to play in the snow while we were in Ohio.  We didn’t bring any snow pants or anything so we had to borrow some from my brother’s family.  They have two girls, Lyndsay and Hayley, who are close to the same ages as JO and JY.  Beggars can’t be choosers so here is what the boys ended up looking like. Aww look at the pretty little girl.

No wait that’s not a little lady that’s JY.

JO got to wear his camo coat so he only had on pink pants. MMMMmmmm snow is mighty tasty.

Isn’t it ironic that Lyndsay’s snowsuit was mostly blue with only little bits of pink.

I think there’s trouble brewing.

I only got one good picture of Hayley, because she was being difficult and didn’t want her picture taken.

I finally had the opportunity to try out the much coveted Wollmeise and knit myself a pair of socks. The pattern I chose was Anniversary Socks by Nancy Bush. I really enjoyed knitting these socks once I discovered the errata. I only had to frog 2 repeats of the lace pattern.

Even though it has been said hundreds of times the color saturation of this yarn is beyond belief, and while it will never take the place of my Hazel Knits yarns I will cherish the few skeins I have languishing in my stash.

JO says he wants one of these. Or maybe I could just put him in my suitcase, Mom.

Let me explain the weird sounding title.  On New Years Eve Port Clinton, Ohio has a Walleye Drop.  You know like The apple drop in New York City.  Port Clinton is known as the Walleye capital of the world and what would be more fitting than dropping a giant fish to ring in the new year.  This year they also had family activities at an earlier time so the kiddies had something to enjoy.  The “touch a truck”was host to all kinds of vehicles including   a police cruiser, a swat truck, and  a national guard truck.  Even the kids were confused by the name.  JY, Hayley, and JO “touching the police cruiser”

The police department had hats and badges for the kids. JO decided to work it for the camera.

Hayley, my niece, was the only one who would try on the swat team vest. The boys were too scared or something.

JY did stand behind the shield (I’m sure there’s a technical term for it, but I’ll stick to shield)

Hayley, Lyndsay, and JO inside a tractor.

The kids got their faces painted so JY and JO both got spiders. It wasn’t one of the options but the nice teenager who was doing the face painting gave it a go. I think she did a great job.

Hayley wearing her New Years Eve finery. Her face art totally looks like a glass of champagne, but I think it was supposed to be a fish.

Lyndsay getting ready to blow her noisemaker to ring in the New Year

I got my baby fix by loving on the nephew as much as I could.

Nicholas even got in on the horn blowing action.

Now you know why it took me so long to post some of these Ohio pictures. I can’t decide on which ones to use so I just end up with a really long picture heavy post. The Webmaster got a new pair of socks which were also finished while in Ohio.   The pattern I used was Propitiate by Hunter Hammersen, and the yarn was Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in denim blues.

Wow it’s been a long time.  We went to Ohio for 3 weeks and I just got out of the habit of blogging.  I figured maybe if I had The Webmaster give the old bloggy an update it would inspire me to post more.  I’ve finished several knits and I’ll try to slowly post them.  The first of which are JO’s fingerless mitts that he bugged and bugged me to make.  I used some leftover Socks That Rock lightweight in thraven.  I kinda just winged these with the help of The Knitters Handy Book of Patterns.

I’d say he likes them.

The chickens are doing well and JO has his “favorite” which he calls his pet.

That silly bird let JO carry her around forever.

I’ll be back next week with another finished object and some highlights from our Ohio trip.

Nonny was giving haircuts last weekend and JO decided he wanted a mohawk. If I remember correctly it was The Webmaster’s idea, and I just went along with it. He does have a nice shaped head, albeit quite large, but nice an round. Here is the best view of the haircut, and you can see JY climbing the rock behind JO.

For some reason JY was in the mood to have his picture taken so I got some cute ones. I think it had more to do with the fact JO was getting his picture taken and JY didn’t want to be left out. I can’t decide which I like better. I like this one because JO looks like such an adult little man.

I like this one because JO and JY look like happy brothers who always love each other.

I finish my mosaic mystery socks designed by Star Athena. It’s a great pattern and I love the way it turned out. I used Hazel Knits Artisan sock in Plum Glace and Beachglass. The lace part of the sock is really stretchy so I had to decrease more stitches so the foot would fit, and I don’t love the placement of my decreases. I would also probably omit the lace if I knit this again and just do the foot in plain stockinette stitch.  The Webmaster said he like these socks so maybe if he’s good I will make him some without the lace.

The Webmaster took JO and JY to the park to drive their RC cars a couple weeks ago. It wasn’t supposed to rain, but of course it did as soon as we got there. JY’s truck had battery issues so he didn’t get to drive much, but JO had a blast with his truck.

JY had fun watching big brother drive so disaster was averted.

The Webmaster had to have a turn driving, and couldn’t resist the playground toys. JO kept a close eye on The Webmaster’s playing….I’m sure he was taking notes so he could try it next time.

For the final maneuver the truck went down the slide.

Since this post seems to be all about boys I finished  The Webmaster’s socks. The pattern I used was Xanthophyll by Hunter Hammersen.  I knit these socks two at a time magic loop for the first time.  The yarn was Cascade Yarns Heritage which is great for boy socks since it’s one of those workhorse type yarns.

The Webmaster was a great sock model, and the pattern looks sophisticated.

Not a super hard pattern to memorize and I definitely recommend it.

Next time I’ll have some chicken pictures and my in progress mosaic socks.

I finished another pair of socks by Nancy Bush knit in DIC Smooshy purple rain.  I don’t know what it is about smooshy, but every time I knit a pair of socks out of it they fit perfectly.  A friend on Ravelry informed me that it’s because smooshy is magic.  As good of an explanation as any.  The pattern was Child’s First Sock in Shell Pattern from the Knitting Vintage Socks book.  More details can be found here.

All the leaves have been falling around here, and the boys helped rake them up. JO took a turn with the leaf blower.

JO and JY sat in a pile of freshly raked leaves. I guess the leaves made JY’s nose itchy.

JY enjoyed digging through the leaves to see what he could find.

Look this one is as big as my head.

That’s all for now, but I finished a pair of socks for The Webmaster so I’ll be back next week with those.

We had a pumpkin carving party on Friday.  Five of the pumpkins we grew survived, and JO got a pumpkin from his pumpkin patch field trip.  We had one of those pumpkin carving kits from Walmart and JO insisted on wearing the skeleton gloves.

Some of the not quite ripe pumpkins were difficult to scrape, but never fear we conquered them in the end. JY was very meticulous with his scraping. That’s his “I’m working leave me alone face”

JO, and JY both wanted the Bat signal carved into their pumpkins. JY didn’t want to get his picture taken so JO squeezed him tight until he smiled.

I got some lovely mail a week or so ago. The October shipment of the Hazel Knits Sock club arrived. The green was Cascade Canopy, and the reddish brown was Path to the Peaks.

Next time I’ll have a finished pair of socks for you.

Jer came over last week and JO and JY made her play Hungry Hungry Hippos, Hide-n-seek, and Fish. They love the undivided attention she gives them. There might have been some booty shakin going on too, but I didn’t get a picture of that.

JY decided to play with a pink wallet that the boys got from Great Grandma Cowan. He kept trying to put it in his pocket, but he had on pajama pants. He just kept shoving it down the elastic waistband and it would stay for a minute, and then fall all the way down his leg. I could not stop laughing it was quite hilarious.

The Webmaster surprised me with a gift from my favorite yarn store, Renaissance Yarns. He stopped on his way home from a Dr’s appointment in Seattle. I didn’t even realize he knew where to find the store, but apparently he remembered from one of the times I made him make a quick stop. He bought me 2 skeins of Cascade Heritage, and Cat Bordhi’s new book. I decided to make him a pair of socks with one skein of yarn, and try out Magic Loop two at a time. It’s working out so far, but I’ll let you know if I run into trouble when I get to the heels. The pattern is Xanthophyll by Hunter Hammersen.

I finished my first mystery socks which are aptly named fox faces.  Nancy Bush was the designer of these lovely socks, and the requirement for SKA was to knit them in yellow.  I knit mine out of none other than Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Stick ‘O’ Butter.  I really love these socks, and the only thing I would change if I knit them again would be to switch to stockinette after the 12 lace repeats.  I knit 15 lace repeats and I just think there isn’t enough separation of  the lace to the toe.  More details here.

In this picture you can see how the lace continues right onto the toe. Here is an example of a sock knit with a stockinette toe.

While I was taking pictures of the socks JY insisted on making faces for the camera.

I guess he’s grown out of his aversion to having his picture taken.