Resisty the Resistor

For the past year or so, every time I hit John up for a knitted toy idea, I’ve gotten the same enthusiastic answer:

“How about Resisty the Resistor!”

If you’re not electronically inclined, a resistor is something that regulates current in a circuit board, or at least that’s my basic understanding. What else could I expect from the author of Geek Out New York?

So, partly because I was looking for a small project to whip up yesterday, and partly because today is our second wedding anniversary, I finally broke down and made little Resisty.

resisty

Right now he’s on the hunt for a circuit board and maybe a few friends!

Update: Thank you to Michelle at the Craft blog for featuring little Resisty!

29 Responses to “Resisty the Resistor”


  1. 1 John

    Finally!

    According to his color bands, Resisty is a 450 mega-ohm resistor manufactured with just a 2% tolerance. Pretty fancy. I don’t know if you could get one of those in real life. Thank goodness for Resisty!

  2. 2 Anna

    Aw I thought I was copying a real resistor on one of your robots! I guess I got the colors wrong…

  3. 3 John

    Oh, I see it. I suppose if you turned Resisty around, he would be a common red-purple-green-gold resistor, but I like him better this way, yellow-green-purple-red. He is unique!

  4. 4 Bonney

    Isn’t it funny how he looks just like Johnny? Happy Anniversary!! And who has a birthday next?!!

  5. 5 Bunny

    Wow i really like him.! I Need to make One for my Dad. He is a retired Electrician. It would make a great neck roll for while he is sitting in his high back desk chair.

  6. 6 Kounting Sheep

    Ha ha…I’m sure if I asked my dad, who is an electrical engineer, he would know what that is too! Isn’t it funny how computer nerds look at things differently, even toys? Yay for the geeks in our lives!

  7. 7 fillyjonk

    *is dead from the cute*

    I think these used to come in different color combinations, indicating different strengths? So a person could make a whole forest of Resistys. (Or whatever the collective noun for resistors is.)

    (I had a Radio Shack “Electronics Lab” kit when I was a kid - you could build simple circuits and do things like make LEDs light up. Well, until I miswired a circuit by mistake and made the whole thing smoke…)

  8. 8 Kounting Sheep

    Yup, my dad knew what that was. He was trying to remember an acronym saying to help remember the order of the color bands. Ha ha…if you offer the pattern I will have to make one for my dad!

  9. 9 Jen

    Hooray for geekism.

    I love resisty! Happy anniversary!

  10. 10 joan

    AAAW! you two couldn’t be any cuter! sweet sweet geeky sweet!

    Happy Anniversary, John and Anna! xo

  11. 11 bluetoespinner

    Sooooo CUTE! I work in the IT dept of our company. Will you be publishing this pattern??

  12. 12 Anna

    Thanks for the anniversary wishes!

    This might be a pattern, if there is interest.. It also needs a little bit of work—right now the “legs” are just open tubes at the bottom. I might add some blobs of solder. We’ll see!

  13. 13 Jen

    I have interest!

  14. 14 joan

    hee hee, solder! i’d definitely like to make a resisty!

  15. 15 Kate

    He’s great Anna, I love him! My Dad is an electrician and I mucked around with more than a few resistors when I was a child - I think he’d love one of these. I remember trying to solder up a circuit board to make a Darth Vader voicebox - don’t remember it ever working for me though :( and Happy Anniversary, I especially loved the comments conversation between you, John, and Bonney!

  16. 16 fillyjonk

    Yes, also interested here. Little blobby solder feet, ha ha. I like that idea.

    Maybe he needs a friend, Leddy the LED. (That Radio Shack junior electronics set I had had lots of LEDs in it.)

  17. 17 Miki

    this is awesome, i know of a lot of engineers who would squee!

  18. 18 Knittygirlie

    Happy Anniversary Anna & John!!!!

    Resisty is PErFECT! Love it…make it a pattern..grin grin grin :)

  19. 19 Anla

    I think that’s really cool! My dad’s really in to buiding stuff and taking apart electronics. He took apart an old pc and the insides were really cool.

  20. 20 Eileen

    Brilliant! I’m casting my vote in the “yes, yes, a pattern!” camp. Is he really going to have other circuity friends? That would be awesome.

  21. 21 Annie

    Happy Anniversary you two!
    I would make one for my boyfriend, and see if he knew what it was! *he also is a compu-geek*

  22. 22 Holly

    I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see a pattern for Resisty! My dad is an electrician. When I was little he taught me how to solder with extra resistors. I’d make little keyrings and jewelry with them. I would love to be able to knit a Resisty for my dad. He’d love it!

  23. 23 Angela

    That is just too cute!!

  24. 24 Ellen

    As a knitter and a licensed ham radio operator, I’d love a pattern for lil Resisty.

    So darned cute!

  25. 25 Sheri

    He is really cute! I soldered many things when I was a kid. I can think of a couple of people that I’d knit this for! I’d definately be interested in seeing a pattern!

  26. 26 jenni= )

    sooooooo fun! i think i need to make one in honor of my father!

    *chants* we want a pattern, we want a pattern, we want a pattern!

  27. 27 Anna

    Thank you all for the positive response! I’m thinking that once I fancy him up a bit, I’ll put the pattern for Resisty up on the blog. So check back in a month or so!

  28. 28 sparrow

    i want a pattern!! my husband works in a service department tearing guitar tube amps apart all day, and talks about these things all the time! i would love to make some for him and all the techs he works with in the shop!! thanks for sharing… happy anniversary!! i can’t wait to see the pattern!!!

  29. 29 Romy

    Please post a pattern! My husband (also named John) is an electrician…it’s one toy I could knit for him!

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