Couple quick things

* Charlotte, I have always used polyester fiberfill as toy stuffing. I find I can get a pretty good-quality one at JoAnn's; even the Wal-Mart here sells a decent one.

I like it, especially for something like these frogs, because it's washable. (I made sure to buy machine washable yarn for the frogs. I don't remember my mother ever washing any of my stuffed animals when I was a kid but then again I tended to be extremely careful about those kinds of things, even as a child).

I've also heard of using clean, carded wool, which I think would make a lovely toy stuffing but I've never really seen it for sale anywhere.

* I'm midway through with the second frog. These work up gratifyingly quickly - one of the reasons I like knitting toys.

* Tomorrow I give exams (I have two sections of the same class and give the exams on the same day so as to avoid confusing myself too much). So I have to bring invigiliating knitting, it will probably be the vest that I've mostly not-worked-on lately (At home, I've mostly worked on the Christmas gifts).

* Exam-proctoring Dalek says "INVIGILIATE!"

* (That was something I thought of while sorting soil for soil invertebrates. Part of my brain can kind of go on autopilot when I am doing this so I think all kinds of interesting things. Another thing -)

* I was thinking about how if some crazy rich person gave me something like $100,000 with the stipulation that I needed to SPEND it (rather than, you know, sticking it in investments for my retirement), I'd plan an epic cross-country yarn crawl (and try to arrange to meet Ravelry and blog-friends while doing it) - I'd go to all the shops I've mail-ordered from but never got to visit - WEBS, and Loopy Ewe, and Simply Sock Yarn (which advertises on their website, something like, "Come and visit our five tons of sock yarn!" which sounds like a fun trip to me). And just buy yarn, and maybe take my newly-met friends to the nearest yarn shop and ask them, "Okay, what's the ONE YARN you really want for a project?" and buy it for them. Or buy yarn and needles for kids/spouses/others in their family who want to learn.

* My brother and sister-in-law took my niece to a Halloween party at the Air and Space Museum. (They go there a lot; she seems to really like the Air and Space Museum). They sent me photos - Sarah-Jane standing next to someone dressed as a Dalek, and her with Darth Vader and some Stormtroopers. Apparently her reaction to Darth Vader was to call him "funny man."

I don't know if that means she's a super-confident little kid who doesn't scare easily, or if she has a poorly-developed sense of danger.

(I was 10 before Darth Vader made the scene but I think I'd have been afraid of him. I WASN'T afraid of Santa though many kids are when they go for Pictures with Santa but I think the Darth Vader mask would have creeped me out)