Picking away at working on finals. (One is done and copied, the second one is written, and I'm working on the third today with hopes of getting it done this afternoon).

But what I really want to do is to go into "holiday mode." I have my house all decorated (but I need to pick up a bit of the clutter that seems to inevitably creep out into my living room - books I'm looking at, mail that needs attending to, leaves that follow me in the front door). I want to make stuff. I want to bake cookies (I've decided not to do fruitcakes this year, alas - they never get eaten up. Maybe I'll do them when I'm up at my parents' in a couple of weeks).

I especially want to work on "critters." I have yarn put aside to make a couple more of the "Bob" toys from Mochimochiland - and I want to try modifying the pattern so that it will have an opening for stuffing in the underside, so I can then knit one in felting wool and try felting it.

And I love this horse that's made out of socks and I want to try to figure out how to do one for myself. (I have the "sock and glove" book on making toys, that might be a place to look).

And Purl Soho has kits for Japanese toy animals, like this Beckoning Cat. (I will admit I'm a bit cheap to pay $25 for a toy kit...so I'm contemplating making up my own pattern for something similar. Also, I'd like it more like the traditional Beckoning Cats where the paw is actually up over the ear (when I was traveling in Hawaii, a lot of businesses had those; the tradition is that the cat will bring visitors or customers). There's a knit pattern out there for one, I'll maybe have to look at it again.

I did order the "Evolving Punk" pattern from Mochimochiland and ordered some KnitPicks "Palette" to make it with (fingering weight feltable wool; the original calls for Rowan four-ply so I figure the Palette is a good substitute.

My Evolving Punk is going to be royal blue and red (as close to the colors in the British flag as the yarn choice allowed). I'm going to see if I can find a little Union Jack patch to sew on him (after all, so many punkers wore Union Jack t-shirts). I had also originally thought of doing a "safety-pin piercing" on him, but I came with something much cleverer: one of those safety-pin shaped stitch holders.

Of course, I still have to wait for the yarn to even ARRIVE for this. But I already have a pretty clear idea in mind of what I want to do.