Indian Runner Duck Bodum Cosy

On Fridays at Providence Farm I participate in the Textiles program. One day in early July, I was between projects, I decided I was going t knit a tea cosy and asked the others what animal I should knit it in? The response was swift: An Indian Runner Duck! So I set to designing.

Barbara, the one who made the suggestion, had already decided to buy it when it was finished. She later said (before I got too far on it) that she doesn't actually drink tea and could I maybe knit it in the shape of a Bodum instead? Perfect. Indian Runner ducks are tall and skinny, much more suited to that shape.

I started knitting the bill and the legs, then went on to the head. It took me four Fridays to get him done but I am very pleased with the outcome.

 I knit the bill first. That was easy.

 The webbed feet took a bit of doing too. I had to restart a few times to get the shaping right.

 This is after week two I think.

 After week three.

 I stuffed the leg with some rope trim. I found a bit of fleece to sew to the bottom of the foot to keep it stable.

 I'm very pleased with how the tail turned out.

 Temporary eyes - a pin stuck through a bit of felt until we decided what the eyes should look like.

 Wings!

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with him. The weekend before last he was on display in the Store at Providence Farm during the Folk Festival, and apparently someone came in and wanted to buy it. This means not only did I have to set a price, but I also need to make a second one. It will be much faster the second time around because I don't need to do the designing, but it will probably still take me three or four Fridays at the Farm. The ladies who are in the Textiles program have encouraged me to enter my duck into a local fair, and I might have enough time to organize that. I have never entered anything in a fair before but I think it would be a fun thing to do. The Cowichan Exhibition is the second weekend of September, so I think I could manage it. My duck fits into the "knitting - other" category as well as the "Kitchen Kover" category. Can I enter one item in two different categories?