rara avis

A bluebird of happiness was spotted alighting upon the pothos plant in my study this morning:
Then again on a spider plant in the dining room:

What is this rare and elusive creature? I fear the Audubon guide will be of no use in this instance.

Pattern: Bluebird, by Marnie Ann Joyce (Curlypurly)
Yarn: Cascade 220, light blue and gold
Elann Peruvian Baby Cashmere, black, for the eyes
Needles: US 6 Clover bamboo DPNs

Notes:
As with most knitted toys, this was a bit fiddly to knit, and the finishing instructions were rather mysterious. It helped to check out the photos from Marnie's blog as well as look on Ravelry. Both Grace and Kim knit very cute birds last spring! I wish I had read Grace's notes on the increases beforehand.

I ended up attaching the tail horizontally with a bit of a curve to it. The beak was enormous when knit as per the directions, so I cast on again with just 4 stitches. It's still awfully long. I went down to size 6 DPNs to get a firmer fabric.

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Winter garland update:
7 hats and 3 mittens down -- 5 hats and 9 mittens to go! While I do have a glorious array of blues, neutrals, and reds, I have absolutely no green worsted weight wool in my stash. I guess this won't be entirely a stashbusting project, after all.