Even more sock monsters

I promise to stop blogging about sock monsters soon......but they are the things that got me back into crafts so before I do I just wanted to show you a few more!

First a couple of monsters made from those funny socks that seperate your toes like gloves:





I'm really pleased with these two - the stripey socks seem to work really well for sock monsters. These are the only ones I've made with socks I've actually worn but I did make sure they were clean first!

I also tried some with knee high socks.....

This is my first attempt - he is called Wigmore. My mum mentioned that she knew someone called Wigmore and I thought it was such a genius name that I knew I had to call one of my monsters that! He was fun to make although the long arms and legs do take a long time to stuff and it is difficult to stop them being a bit lumpy. I don't think I quite achieved it here!

Next I decided to try out an idea I had for using one sock to make a kind of snail's shell. I also decided to add some legs because, afterall, he is a sock monster and not a sock snail! I haven't managed to get him to sit up quite like I wanted but still, I think he has potential:

Lastly I decided to make a friend for Wigmore (and for my dad because Wigmore was his favourite!). He is called Waldorf. Unfortunatley the picture quality isn't that good but this picture makes me laugh - I think they look like a couple of old men, sitting on a bench and watching the world go by!

That's all for now. In my next post I will try and talk about something other than sock monsters!!

Dotty xx

The sock monsters multiply

I'd enjoyed making my first sock monster so much that immediately I started on the next one. This time I wanted to design it from scratch myself.

This is my second sock monster. What do you think? I wasn't too keen to start with! He looked awful til I added the antennae. I think the problem was that you couldn't see he was made from socks and what is the point of a sock monster who doesn't look like he is made from socks! I decided to return to the original design.

Monster number three. Cute eh? And I think did the mouth better than I had done for Yerk.

Next I decided to have a go at Nicky's method for making a sock monster - where the heel of the sock is used for the bum rather than the mouth. I added features using felt and I think he turned out pretty well :o)


After that there was no stopping me....the sock monsters started to multiply....

The first sock monster

In January I was bumbling around with nothing much to do except feel sorry for myself when I visited a friend, Vicky. We chatted and she showed me a present she had made for one of our mutual friends - it was an elephant made of grey socks. It made me laugh. And got me thinking....

I felt inspired and really wanted to make something to do. The elephant she had made was fab but I wanted to do something slightly different. I wanted to make something brighter and more colourful. I also wanted something that would be forgiving if I made little mistakes as I went along - the problem with an elephant is that everyone knows what an elephant is supposed to look like!

I vaguely remembered seeing something about sock monsters. That sounded appealing - no one knows what a monster looks like so there was an opportunity to be creative (and possibly make mistakes!). I hit the internet.

There was so much out there - who knew sock monsters were so popular? In the end I followed several patterns to come up with my own monsters. I used the Blue Peter website (if kids can do it surely I can!), the poster on Nicky's blog Monster-Munch (which is definitely worth a read, she has made some great things) and a tutorial for a sock monkey on Craftbits. I grabbed some M&S socks and was ready to begin....

When I told Vicky my plan she told me to take WIP (work in progress) pics to email to her so for this project I can even show you some of the stages.















(Sorry for the poor picture quality - I didn't know anyone was going to see them at the time!)





I think the mouth was the hardest part and it took a couple of attempts to get it right. The buttons were just random ones I had stashed. It was a simple little project but I really enjoyed making my little monster friend and I was pretty pleased with the end result. Meet Yerk:


Yerk looked so sad and lonely sitting there on his own - I knew I would have to make him some friends. Besides I still had the remains of that three pack of socks to use up!

I'll introduce you to some of Yerk's friends in the next post...

Dotty xx

Why start a blog?

This is something I've been thinking about a lot over the last few weeks.

At the moment I have a lot of spare time on my hands. Too much time! I've been off sick from work since November 2008 for a variety of complicated and exciting reasons which I won't go into here. This has given me a lot of time to think. Maybe too much! I think I was starting to go slightly insane until....I started crafting again!

I always loved arts and crafts as a child. I was always cutting and sticking . I hoarded shiny pieces of paper, funny buttons and ribbons from chocolate boxes. My parents' house was covered with slightly wonky sculptures and gaudy handmade pictures! I wasn't particularly talented but I made up for it with enthusiasm!

Sadly, as I grew up and life took over I seemed to grow out of my most creative hobby. There were always too many other things to do - exams to take, Saturday jobs, more exams, friends to see, even more exams and then a high pressure job to work too hard at! You get the picture. I still fitted in making handmade cards for my family every so often and still kept random bits and pieces that inspired me but that was the extent of my creativeness.

In January this all changed. After being inspired by a friend (more of which in a later post) I tentatively began a small sewing project. Before I had even finished my head was swimming with more plans and ideas. I was excited. Thinking creatively seemed to make me feel more alive again. I even felt slightly healthier.

Since then my output has been prolific. Most of the things I have made are plush toys and pin cushions, some based on my own designs and some from other peoples patterns. The more I do, the more ideas I have. The more I explore other peoples blogs the more inspired I become. I don't have enough room in my head to contain all the ideas I have and all the crafts I want to try! My parents' house is once again covered in my creations!

I decided to start a blog to document my adventures and experiments in crafts. To keep a record of what I learn and what I make. I promise to show the good and the bad! I will also post links to other blogs and pictures that I find inspiring. Hopefully someone will read my blog one day and be inspired to make something themselves and maybe that someone will find it as therapeutic as I have...... That's the dream anyway.

Bye for now.

Dotty xx

PS. I may well add in some other non craft related ramblings as I blog. I'm not really sure how this will all work at the moment so I guess we'll just see what happens...... I'm looking forward to it!