Sock Monkey Tutorial

Let's make cute Sock Monkeys!

Supplies:

• Socks. 
• For these monkeys I used regular women's socks (not knee highs, they are too long) I bought at WalMart, but if you want the classic sock monkey look, I've found those at the Arm Navy Outfitters store
• stuffing
• buttons for eyes
• embroidery thread
• regular sewing supplies

Choose your socks. Cut the first sock as shown. 

HINTS:

• Cut #1: measure 2 in" up from heel first, then cut across.
• Cut #4: Be sure to cut top and then bottom. If you just snip it with the layers together, you will cut off parts of it. As you can see, it isn't normally even.

Turn the second sock inside out. Measure 1" up from white of heel and place a pin. Then pin down the center. Sew on each side of the pins, keeping the edge of pressure foot next to pins. Create a rounded end and stopping just before the 1" marker pin.

Cut down the center to the 1" mark. Trim around rounded ends. Turn and set aside.

The next step is to pin and sew the other pieces. 

Since the ears were cut on the fold, I snip a small part of the fold so I will have a turning hole that will be easy to hide later.

 Sew on edge of pressure foot. Create a rounded end for the arms. Trim rounded arm ends and turn all pieces.

Your pieces should now look like this:

You may now gather your things, move away from the sewing machine and get cozy on the couch. (I popped in a movie and everything!) Everything else is hand sewn.

Stuff body to your liking (it always takes more stuffing than I think it will). Stitch opening closed.

Take 2-3 strands of embroidery thread and tie it around the body about 4" from the top to create a neck. I start on the back, tie once in the front, bring the threads back to the back and tie a knot there. So there are 2 layers.

front view

tied in the back

Trim off extra length.

Pin the snout onto the front of the head. Hand sew around 3/4 of it. No need to turn the edge under, the knit won't fray and the little raw edge looks cute.

Stuff snout and stitch the opening closed.

Stuff arms and tail. Use a running stitch around the end and pull tight. Then attach to the body. I like the raw edge on the snout, but it leaves too much of a gap with the arms and tail for my liking. I stitch the arms and tail on about 1/2" from the edge and hide the gathered raw edge inside.

The tail is placed in the center of the heel on the body sock.

Attach the ears. I sew the two corners together first.

The ears should be placed directly on the sides in line with where the eyes will be.

The last step is to make the face. Embroider the mouth with 2 threads, following the picture:

HINT:

• To hide the ends, push the needle in from a few inches away and travel inside, coming up at your starting point. Same goes for the end thread, go under at the knot, then come up a few inches away.
• Stitch #2 goes all the way across. Don't pull it very tight.
• Stitch #4 is as small as you can make it. It's purpose is to hold the smile in place. My knot is in the same place.

Embroider small rectangles for the nostrils and attach the eyes.

Now you're done!!

I messed up on cutting the stripped sock, that's why the tail is short...

THE END.

Attack of the Sock Monkeys

Meet Sock Monkey Pete and Pretty's-sock-monkey-that-has-yet-to-be-named (I'm open for suggestions). They are important in our family.

When I was pregnant with Hero, I had a friend tell me to take a picture with him and a stuffed animal every month for the first year to show how he grew. One month came and I pulled out Sock Monkey Pete, whom I had made (and named) in high school.

And thus started a tradition.

Don't you just love the screaming one?

When Hero (almost 3 in this picture) saw me taking pictures with Pretty and her monkey, he ran, grabbed his monkey, and had to be a part of it. (The hubby had to take him outside and distract so I could get one of just Pretty.)

You might notice that the un-named monkey has different flowers to match her owner's. I made a loop to hook on the flowers. When Pretty's first year is over, I might stitch a permanent flower on.

A co-worker of my husband saw the monthly updates I do on my family blog and requested that I show how I make the sock monkeys. It's pretty good timing, since I have a few pregnant friends. . . one with twins. One boy and one girl. So I made these for them.

I'm working on the tutorial, which I will put up later today.

Cleaning and Teasing

Yesterday, I had both kids asleep at the same time!! And what did I do? A smart mom would take a nap...

My top thread kept catching and binding around the bottom, so I pulled it apart and cleaned it. I even pulled out my manual to make sure I did it right! Now it works so great. But the time it took me to do this put my project finishing time off by a day. I hope to have something to share with you by later today.

In the meantime, you may be able to figure out what it is with this picture. And maybe not.

The Much-Requested B-day Gift

My nephew's birthday was last week. He asked me more than a month ago to please make him a new animal toy, because he lost the one I had made him before. 

I promptly, and sadly, forgot. Luckily, when my mom wast asking him what he wanted for his birthday, he told her he wanted me to make him a new animal, and she called to remind me!

I have a little book with ten amigurumi animals in it call Vanna's Choice: easy crochet critters. I used this to make the other animals for him and his siblings. But I decided to try to find a new pattern he hadn't seen before. I went onto my favorite website for crochet patterns Ravelry.com. This site is awesome! It's easy to use and has tons of both crochet and knitting patterns. Some you need to purchase, but there are a lot that are free. Like the one I ended up making for the gift. Funny that it was also on the Lion Brand website...

Wiener Dog : free pattern

Here's a few shots with Pretty, just to show how big the dog is.

I put it in the gift bag with some shirts I had got him on top. Poor kid looked disappointed about the clothes, until he saw the dog underneath! I love it when kids light up like that! (hey, Aud, if you have a good picture of it, I'd love to put it up. . .)

Caterpillar Toy Tutorial

Ok. Sorry for the lack of posting here, but I got in a fight with my sewing machine. I tried to make a 90 minute shirt for Hero and it went VERY BADLY. It was completely due to my poor pattern making... I'll try again later.

But oh well, I'm back with what I do well. Toys.

Look how cute!! It'a another bug!

With the fun prints and the big button tail, how could you not want one?

Here's what you'll need:

• 5 rectangles cut 6" x 8"  (body/top)
• 5 rectangles cut 6" x 3"  (belly/underside)
• 24 pieces of ribbon cut 2 1/2" long
• small pieces of felt in white and blue
• small black button and large color button

There's a small blue ribbon I planned to use for antenna, that I ended up not using. Sorry to confuse!

First arrange the pieces to your liking. I chose to mix and match.

Sew the top pieces all together in a strip with 1/2" seam, and repeat on the belly pieces. Press seams open.

Pin legs on the right side of the underside (6 per section/3 per side) on all sections but one end (this will be the head). Place the middle leg in the center of each piece. Pin the other two about 3/4" away from center leg. Baste on.

Sew the top to the underside into a long tube with a 1/2" seam.

Take one end and gather it together and sew it down. (I did the face end, but later wondered if I should have done the tail end instead...).

Turn the tube right side out. To stuff the body, you will stuff it one section at a time. Gather along the seam with a running stitch using 2 strands of embroidery floss (for strength).

Tie a knot on one side seam, gather over the top and end on the other side seam.

Continue one section at a time until the end.

Gather the tail end together. Here's where I thought I might have changed my mind. The machine sewn end looked nice enough to be finished... So if you don't want a large button on the tail end, just do the machine gather sew on the tail end instead of the head.

To finish up the caterpillar, sew a large button on the tail end and the face on the head end.

 And you're done!

Give it to the cutest kid you see and watch him love it!