Monday morning mix

Yes, the question was a repeat. I occasionally re-use questions, a few per test. The low level of people-getting-it-correct (comparable to the level on the "new" questions) suggests to me that old test forms are either not circulating, or I have enough of a reputation as someone who writes new tests that people don't bother to memorize my old ones.

(I have a colleague who doesn't hand tests back, because this colleague likes being able to re-use old tests year after year. I tend to think there's pedagogical value in students having their tests back - especially as I tend to give comprehensive finals - and also, I teach different stuff every year, or teach the same stuff differently, so not all the old questions will still be valid.

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I picked away at different projects over the weekend - worked some on the left-front of Potter, did a bit more embroidery on the pillowcase, sewed some on the current quilt (All the bits are cut for the four-patches, finally. I have a few more sets of four-patches to sew, the setting-squares to cut, and then I can lay out the quilt and start actually putting it together.)

I also went to the "family time" (What I would call, with my upper Midwest background, "visitation.") The oldest member (he was 99) of the congregation I belong to passed away. His funeral is at noon today and there was no way I could make that (this is one of my busier teaching days), so I figured it was probably better to go and pay my respects to the family there than to skip it altogether. (I admit it: I find visitations more uncomfortable than funerals. For one thing, they're open-ended: I know it's a "show up and stay as long as you feel you need to" but I never know what's a "respectable" length of time. And I generally don't know many of the people at them. (And it may be, I still have memories of the first one I went to, for my grandmother, and the fact that no one told me it would be open-casket, and I found that a little unsettling, even at 20).

But I think I'm glad I went. The only family the man had left were a son and daughter-in-law (both in their late 60s, I'd guess).

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One last thing that I completed over break and didn't post about. This is a monster from the new Rebecca Danger monster book. (I ordered it directly from her and she autographed it to me).



This is Tony. In the book, Tony is described as the "Toy Box Monster." (Every monster in the book is themed to somewhere in the house or garden). One thing I like about the concept of monsters that this patternwriter uses, is that they are not SCARY monsters. They are FUNNY monsters, sweet monsters, monsters that want to be kids' friends. More like the Sesame Street monsters than the monsters that kids sometimes imagine as being under the bed or in the closet. (I don't remember being like that myself, but then, I think I moved out of that childhood confusing-reality-and-fantasy age fairly early, and it could be I just don't remember it).

I do make my monster faces just a little differently from hers - usually she has the teeth straight across, so it looks like the monster has an underbite or a bulldog-like expression. I like to curve the teeth a little so it looks like the monster is smiling. (I also sew the teeth on rather than gluing them).

The yarn used here is a Lorna's Laces worsted weight, the color is called "Verve."