owl fest and a not-quite vest

Ack!  Time goes by so quickly in December, and it's even busier than usual because we're relocating some of our business merchandise to a new facility.  Hiking and other leisure activities have taken a back seat to work.  However, an exception had to be made for my birthday, and we made the 75-minute trek to Eagle Creek last week.  I haven't made any secret about my love of Eagle Creek - it's my absolute favorite place to hike.  Look, they still had some pumpkins out!

A wintry mix dampened our clothing but not our spirits as we made a 4-mile trek around the reservoir.

So many dramatic red berries.

So many birds, too.  I spotted another downy woodpecker in the underbrush.

We saw many birds on the water. and lots of nests in the trees.

I didn't have my binoculars, so I'm not sure what kind of nests these were.  It reminded me a bit of the heron nests we saw around water in South Carolina. 

Eagle Creek has lots of bird feeders clustered around the Ornithology Center, and I loved watching the birds there.

I had some company!

After the hike and a quick lunch (and a couple hours of work that couldn't be postponed), we had healthy chocolate brownies with honey-sweetened cream cheese frosting.

YUM.  It was a great day!

I've been feverishly knitting a bulky-weight cardigan in my spare moments this month.  It's the first time I've felt pretty confident about the fit, because I've been able to try it on as I go (here it is, knitted top down, halfway done).

Now the body and one arm is completed.  One arm to go...then a quick blocking, buttons, and it's going to be ready to wear!  This is the first time I've heavily modified a sweater too, with the help of Ravelry.  The yoke is shortened, the back is lengthened, and arms are added.  It's gone really well so far.  Although it looks like a kind of odd open vest in the picture above, I'm hopeful that it's going to be a great sweater pretty soon.  Tabitha is keeping a close eye on my yarn balls...in between naps, that is!

Have a great week!