Weekend catchup

I haven't shown any yard pictures in awhile. This is a sunbathing squirrel Lyn saw sleeping from his office window on Saturday morning. Squirrels have been swarming our yard, eating all the bird seed and being a nuisance, but I enjoy them anyway and love this picture.



I have one finished sock to show since I can't show the Christmas things I've been knitting. This sock is what I call my mindless sock pattern - just simple knitting in the round, make a heel flap, gusset, instep, toe, and finish off in kitchener. This Kaffe Fassett yarn was a sport weight and it went really fast. I like doing this kind of sock every once in awhile. I get something with little effort. I'll finish sock #2 after Christmas.

I've found a few projects that excite me that I want to start very soon. One is this Advent Calendar scarf from a Swedish publication that I found at Ravelry. Here is the link. I think I have some fingering Louet wool in light green that I can use for this.

Also, thanks to Chelle I found this pattern while I was catching up with her posts at Ravelry. It's a pattern called Guided by Love and is a fund raising sock for Seeing Eye in New Jersey. I was so excited by this, just in time for something to do during the waiting period for the guide dog puppy that is coming to us in about a month! For anyone wishing to get involved in the fund raiser, the pattern is available until December 18, so hurry if you want to get it.

I swear there's a group for everything at Ravelry! Everything!

We had a puppy Christmas party at puppy club on Thursday. We came home with a lab door ringer, a chocolate bar that said Merry Christmas in Braille, and a smaller puppy paw print chocolate bar, plus some new toys for the puppy and a crate so we can start puppy sitting. We met lots of nice people, including people waiting for puppies like us and people who had just gotten puppies. I saw the first 2 shepherds since I've joined the club - Guide Dogs for the Blind is not breeding these now, but I guess there are still a few around.

Keri and I spent Friday looking for venues and found a promising one open on the date she wants to get married. She's still looking and we're both trying not to get too overwhelmed. My family has started their insane-making travel plans (I can't begin to explain what they do) and I'm trying not to get involved. I can provide the date and hopefully they'll make it for the wedding or whatever get-together we're going to have. I'll be a charming hostess, but please, just make your plans and tell me when you're arriving. I'll be so happy to see you when you get here! : )

Of course, I need to know dates by Monday - tomorrow - since I have to submit my vacation dates at work on Tuesday. No pressure!