Thanks for the comments on Rupert. Yes, I do agree, he looks a bit like the "animagic" (or whatever term it was that Rankin-Bass used for their animation style) reindeer in the Rudolph special.

I think Rupert is going to have to hang out under my Christmas tree when I do my decorating this year.

****

It was a fairly productive weekend. I got some "housekeeping" type stuff (making review sheets for exams, updating the online gradebook) for teaching, I got to a "real" grocery store (drove down to Sherman to go to the Kroger and wow, do I miss shopping there when I don't have the chance).

I also pulled out the Airy Cardigan and de-stalled it:



I still have several inches to go on the back before I even think about decreasing for the shoulders. And I really need to sit down sometime and crunch the numbers for the sleeve re-do. (The pattern makes 3/4 length sleeves and I want full-length sleeves, so I have to figure out a new pattern of increases, figure out how many stitches I need at the start, and work from there).

This sweater sat for months on a little bench next to my knitting chair, silently reproaching me for not working on it. (I was actually afraid that at this point I'd have forgotten where I was in the pattern and mess up, but I was able to figure it out).

I also made another toy:



It's knit from the Bright Spark pattern by Kate Jeffrey.

I love ridiculous things like this.

(And oh, the jokes a person could make....the visual joke of a "bright idea" - holding the light bulb up over head; the sarcastic joke of "Here, hold this up and see if the world revolves around you to screw it in" to someone who is self-centered, and of course, the many good old light-bulb jokes. (Favorite one: "How many mice does it take to screw in a light bulb?" Answer: "Only two. But don't ask me how they got in there." Thank you very much. I'm here all week. Don't forget to tip your server.)

I decided to name it (and yes, I am aware of the ridiculousness of naming a toy light bulb) Livermore, after the famous Livermore Centennial Light (That is one well-made light bulb. I am sure the filaments used now are much cheaper material, which is probably in part why this one has lasted so long. I also think bulbs used to contain an inert gas (argon) that they don't know, and that contributed to longer life).

I like how embroidering the "filament" on makes him look kind of like he has a Fu Manchu mustache.

One of the things that is nice about making toys is that you really need so little material to be able to do it.


In a way, Livermore and Oshi-dori (the duck) have common origins...I knit Livermore using the leftover yellow yarn from Oshi (and a bit of grey Wool-ease). A few balls of a not-very-expensive yarn in the right colors, and you can make bunches of toys from it. And you can dig things out of your stash when you find a toy pattern you like.