this is the christmas present i made for my friend maria. it's all her fault, really. you see, we both work at a craft store. she does all sorts of spiffy doodles. one day, she doodled a cthuloid sock monkey, and left it on my register. when i went to cash out a customer, i saw it. i then had to explain to the customer why i simultaneously laughed, choked and turned funny colors...
speaking of turning funny colors, here's the dye i used.
and here are my hands after i used they plastic gloves included in the box, instead of the tighter-fitting latex gloves i bought.
and you thought i was joking in my signature...
i dyed two pairs of blue rockford red heel socks. i was actually surprised when the red heels were still red after i rinsed the dye. i totally expected them to be brown. i realize my dye job is irregular, to say the least; i usually dye yarn.
the first pair is used as per the usual red heel sock monkey pattern, except i left off the mouth, ears and tail.
front. the tentacles are formed by taking three chenille stems and twisting them together. i then cut the legs of the second pair of socks as if i were making arms, but cut each leg into four pieces instead of two. i couldn't decide how to style the tentacles for initial photos, and ended up curling them all up short.
back. yes, i realize the red heels sorta form a face...
the wings.... ohhh.... how i agonized over the wings. i made paper mockups. i was originally going to scallop the bottom edge. and i agonized some more. and then i got up and got some distance from the project.... and realized i was overthinking the whole dang thing. when i cut the legs off to make tentacles, i left a few extra inches above the heel. i cut the toe off, leaving the same amount of fabric as there was above the heel. i then sewed the end and inserted chenille stems, prepared as for the tentacles, and sewed them into a channel.
standing side view. this gives a better view of the wings. or maybe he just really wants a soda...
maria fixed the tentacles when she got him. he looks a bit cuter this way.
in keeping with the traditional sock monkey aspects of this project, his eyes are buttons. creepy red buttons. but buttons all the same.
he really was the life of the party. here he is opening the plate of cookies maria brought.
