Sarah the Sock Creature

My nieces and I finally had a chance to finish the sock monster that we started making the last time they came for long visit.  My youngest niece wielded the scissors and selected the socks, the body style, and the buttons for the eyes and earrings, and my elder niece helped me sew it all together.  She sewed both arms and the smaller leg mostly all by herself.  It was true sock creature collaboration!  

We managed to finish our sock creature and still find lots of time for visiting Rufus and the goats.  Wendigo always brings a toy when we go for a visit to the barn, and the girls have the same good idea.  Only my nieces have funny sock toys and poor Wendi gets a rolled up chicken food sack.  Not fair, right?  

Wendi really wanted a turn playing with the new sock monkey, but my niece figured out a way to keep it safe from Wendi's slobbery mouth by tucking it safely inside her jacket.  I smiled every time I saw her with a sock creature head poking out of her collar.  The sock creatures first name was Penelope, but because that name was too hard to remember, it was changed to Sarah by the end of the day.  

The girls and I took the goats for long rambles and watched them eat weeds and try to head butt Wendigo.  All the extra energy that kids bring got the twin Rivers excited, and they ran up and down the fields with the kids and the dogs, while Peaches focused on eating.  Rufus brayed pitifully from behind the fence because he wanted to join the fun, but when the girls went inside the fence to pet him he was jumpy and skittish and we decided he wasn't ready for an outing with kids.  He got so many treats handed to him through the fence that he seemed mollified.   

They did manage to coax Rufus into taking a run with them.  I was panting from my short jog up the fence line, but I managed to get my phone out and capture the run in this clip.  My nieces can run as fast as a donkey!  

Brandon overheard us talking about building a maze, and when he volunteered to cut a maze with the mower in the long grass of the back field, we were super excited.  He managed to make it hard too, and it included several dead ends.  

As I've said before, mazes are a challenge for me, so I stuck close to my youngest niece, and she lead me safely through.  We went back again right before dark, and took the goats with us.  The Rivers were so worried about being away from the barn at dusk, that they kept jumping and stampeding for the barn, but when they would realize we weren't coming too, they would run back to munch more blackberry leaves.  Brandon said hanging out with goats is like walking with a herd of excitable deer. 

With the Kids

A friend and coworker of mine keeps his horses just down the road from our house.  I've never been to visit his horses before, but when I found out our nieces and nephew were coming for a visit, I asked if it would be okay for us to bring apples for them.  I imagined we would stay safely on the opposite side of the fence and hand the apples slices through to the eager horses.  

The horses did not cooperate, and wouldn't approach the fence for a bunch of strangers in floppy hats.  We weren't defeated though, and bravely hopped the gate and approached the horses with our apple offerings.  Horses are big, and nieces and nephews look quite small once they are mingling with three strange horses in close proximity!

I tried not to show my fear of accidental trampling or intentional biting, and the kids didn't seem to have much fear to suppress.  The big male horse was greedy, and didn't want to share any apple slices with the other two.  He even tried to take the whole pail of apples with his teeth!  We tried to keep him pacified by stuffing apples in his mouth as fast as we could.  Once the apples were gone two of the horses wandered off, but the big male horse tried for a majestic departure by turning fast on his back feet and galloping away.  He sort of ruined the majestic effect though, because he farted really loud as he leaped away.  Ha!  We laughed the whole way home.  

It was an action packed day, starting with hot dogs and sprinklers, and followed by picking blackberries.  The wild blackberries the grow on the farm are small and tart, but with all of us picking there was enough for a cobbler.  It feels like summer with blackberry cobbler.  

We even braved the heat to plant some beans among the corn and sunflower plants in the garden.  

I don't usually bring any toys or actually climb into the coop when I get the eggs, but maybe I should because it seemed great fun!  This stupid sock creature was found by my elder niece in it's unfinished state, so we escaped the heat to finish it's lips and add some eyes and earrings.  I owe the younger niece a sock creature now, and she's not likely to let me forget!

We got to sit out an intense thunderstorm while we sewed, and after the storm we had a perfect rainbow!

The sunset after a storm is always spectacular too.  

Sock Creatures Made with Sugar, Spice, Snips, and Snails

More silly sock creatures have appeared on my dining room table this holiday season.  They insisted that they be made for my nieces and nephew, even though we all know that no kid really wants toys made from some one else's old socks.  But, since I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they open these monstrosities, I'm glad the silly sock creatures arrived when they did.  

I think these creatures are some of the funniest and ugliest I've ever created.  I didn't intend for them to be quite so ugly.  Until they arrived, I was pretty sure all sock monkeys were inherently cute.  The first one I made for my youngest niece sort of looks like cute puppy, so I assumed the rabbit shaped creature would have a similar cuteness factor for my older niece.  What's not adorable about argyle socks?

But, once the creature was stuffed, I realized that it wasn't very feminine, and my niece appreciates femininity.  The creature sort of looked like it had giant ant antenna instead of cute rabbit ears.  Sock creatures really do take on a life of their own.  No problem though, since I can feminize with some sparkly pink accessories, as my niece has taught me, and add some personality with funny teeth and googly eyes, right? 

 

 

As we all know, eyeball placement can define sock creature personality.  Luckily I discovered another handy use of the cell phone camera - the ability to try various eye ball placements and then spend way too much time weighing the pros and cons of each image.  Personally, I liked the eyeball placement shown on the bottom left, but I decided it was a little too scary and alien for a child's room.  Same thing with the cyclops eye on the bottom right.  The eyes high on the forehead in the upper right photo give the creature a non threatening expression, but maybe too silly?    

I finally decided on the eyes near the lips, to enhance the friendly baby rabbit look. A pink sock  with shiny red hearts was turned into a skirt, collar, and antenna bow.  Sugar, spice, and everything nice!

For my nephew I decided to use one of Brandon's worn out socks, since I thought a little boy would be most likely to appreciate the gross factor of cuddling up with his uncle's foot essence.  

What are little boys made of?  Snips and snails and puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of!  I didn't have snails, but I did have snips.  Snips of an old neck tie, and snips of socks to turn into tusks and tongue.  And, the creature has a tail!    

My nephew's favorite color is yellow, so I incorporated yellow eyes.  And, for first time ever, I gave a sock creature a button nose.  An artist must follow her instincts.  

My plan is to have the kids come to my house and decorate the tree while the adults enjoy some eggnog. I think I will let the kids open their sock creature presents at the tree decoration party, when they won't be overshadowed by the heaps of real toys that are coming on Christmas day.  I have predictions about how they will be received by each.  We'll see!

I Got Glitter!

After I created my wreath from from the wild grape vine that nearly pulled my house down last summer, I got it in the back of my mind that I should decorate the wreath in some fashion, and hang it on the house to provide some visual interest during this wintry time of year.  Well, it only took one trip down the dollar store holiday decor isle on my quest for paper towels and scotch tape, for the this little wreath decoration desire to bloom into a full blown glittery be-ribboned wreath creation project!  

After investing an entire five dollars on a giant roll of red and gold ribbon, I was more than committed, and found myself outside yesterday in the twilight hours pruning my cedar trees to generate some classic evergreen wreath material.  I filled  a box with ceder twigs, and brought it in the house.  I predicted that wreath decoration on this scale was going to be a messy business, but working inside where it was warm, and where there are refrigerated tasty beverages and snacks, was a more creative atmosphere than outside it the cold darkness.

The kittens were instantly intrigued by this aromatic box of outdoor material, and I had fun teasing them with cedar boughs and jingle bells, even though I knew I was only teaching them to torment my future Christmas tree.   

By the time I made it back outside, in the dark, to retrieve the wreath, the cats were just as committed to this project as I was, and gave the wreath a good sniff'n to make sure it was safe. Ditto, my scaredy cat, was a little on edge at the introduction of so many new toys to play with.  What's the catch?   

I had to clear away the materials from my recent sock creature sewing project in order to make room for the giant wreath on the dining room table, and by the time I was ready to really get started, Jamie was home so I could recruit him into the project.   

With both of the table leaves in, the dinning room table was just big enough for us to lay the wreath on the table and begin to poke the cut ceder branches into the grape vines. 

It really didn't take that long for us to arrange our cedar boughs in our chosen design.  We decided that the grape vines looked so cool, that we should let them be exposed for portions of the wreath, so we created three green nest-like areas, to highlight my dollar store decor.  It was not the best idea to put our beers and snacks on the table with the cedar branches, since later I had to pick twigs from the sour cream and Jamie almost drank three cedar needles in his beverage.  

I couldn't resist taking a photo of one of my saved vegetable twisty ties in use, just so I could prove to Brandon that I am not a hoarder, but a creative person who needs material.  See, without my twisty tie collection, the wreath my never have been born!    

We incorporated some dried lotus pods that I collected this summer, and when we were brainstorming for other wreath additives, Jamie saw the basket of sock monsters.  Eureka!  

The wreath was so big and awkward to hold, that it was hard to know how our design was progressing, but we were pretty sure it was totally awesome and that we may have future career's as a wreath decorating team.  High five, brother!

It didn't fall apart when Jamie carried it outside.  A good sign.

We didn't have a hook near the door where I wanted to hang it, so we fussed around with three sticks until we created a tripod to hang it from, which would be reminiscent of a peace sign.  Of course, I used twisty ties to hold the tripod together, and then covered the ties with a big bow.  Since I unknowing bought seventy feet of ribbon, I was quite generous.  Then we stood back to admire our result.  Hmmm....Uh... I hate to ask this... but, does it look a little bit like a disaster to you?  Yes.

So, we took it's picture with a flash so we could go back in the house to re-asses the design and warm up.  We decided that the problem was all the shaggy cedar boughs and the interior bow.  The wreath didn't look round enough, which seems to be what separates a wreath from a pile, so we removed the middle bow, and the branches that were hanging in the interior of the wreath, as shown in the photo above, which I took this morning.  Much better.  Turns out we may need to do an apprenticeship before we're ready to form that professional wreath decorator team, after all.  

The wreath is a bit large for our small house, maybe, and possibly the rocks we are using to prop up the front stick of tripod could be spiced up a bit.    But really, it was so much fun to make, I'm convinced I would think it looks cool no matter what.

The tripod is made from sticks I pulled from a beaver dam, so they've had all the bark chewed from them and you can see the beaver teeth marks if you look closely.  The grape grew wild in the back yard, of course, and the cedar boughs came from trees that I transplanted to our yard from my neighbors yard when they were about six inches tall.  The lotus pods came from a wetland I visited earlier this year, the sock creature was one I made and kept for myself.  

Of all the pieces of the wreath, though, my favorite are the sparkly red and gold dollar store pine cones.  I didn't realize I was such a sucker for glitter!  It's a good thing too, since I now have glitter on everything in the dinning room, so I'm sure I will get to enjoy the glitter well into the coming year.  It's been a long time since I've been infected with glitter.  I'm sort of excited about that.  

Now that I look at my front porch with the giant wreath by the door, I can see that my front railing could really use a coat of paint and some pretty green garland with red ribbon... oh... and maybe some of those dangling lighted ice sickles from the gutters... I may have to go back to that dollar store!  

Stupid Sock Creature

Several years ago some friends of mine gifted me a book of instructions on how to create creatures from socks.  I have had so much fun from this gift!  Sock creatures are the perfect sewing project for me.  I can make one in one sitting and there are no fancy sewing skills required.  Actually, the more crooked my seams, the more character my creatures seem to have.  

If you've ever seen my giant basket of unmatched socks, then you know how much I love socks and how hard it is for me to part with them, even when I've been waiting for the mate to show up for ages.  Seriously, where do they go?  What to do with those great socks that no longer have a partner, or are no longer in favor?  Turn them into monsters, of course.   

I've made a few stupid sock creatures with my sewing machine, but for this creature I just used a needle and thread, and I must say that I did not miss the inevitable frustration that comes from my out-of-practice sewing machine operation skills.  All I needed to make this little guy was some nice music, a couple of sleeping kittens in my lap, and a tasty beverage.  

The most exciting part was stuffing him and seeing the sad little shell of sewn together sock bits inflate into a little creature.  

Then comes the really fun part - sewing funny lips from what was the heal of the sock, and adding some details, like a goofy tongue and some button eyes.  I will not admit to you how many button combinations I pinned on his face before I settled on these mismatched ones.  Button eye selection is a skill I must practice to master.     

The only problem with enjoying making sock creatures is finding homes for them.  Over the years, I've gifted some to kids of my friends and family, but I can't say that the kids ever thought they were as neat as I did, and I can only house so many sock dolls before I start to give myself weird looks.  However, when my nieces where at my house for Thanksgiving, my youngest niece came to ask me if she could play with the toys in a basket in my room.  When I realized she was asking about my personal collection of sock creatures, I couldn't have been more excited.  Finally, a kid has shown some interest!   And just in time for Christmas, too.  

My niece seemed to think it was particularly hilarious to pretend the sock creatures were licking Brandon in the face, so I made sure this creature has a giant floppy tongue.  Poor kid, she doesn't know that she's destined for a future full of used sock gifts!