monkey pig

Hello you. How goes it? I can hear the heartbeat of the sea. Sounds poetic, doesn't it? (The sentence, not the heartbeat. Although perhaps it would sound poetic...) Actually, I'm all coldy and my ears have popped and, along with everything being a little bit muffled, I can hear the throbbing of my head, which sounds a bit like the sea's heartbeat. Kind of shwioo shwioo shwioo.


But, in true Blue Peter style, here's one I made earlier. I made this one back in April, in time for the Art Market. I made it with a super long tail and had it on the stall with its tail tied in a knot. Could that have been the reason I had so many comments about it being a pig? Certainly less monkeyish than the others.

I like its little heart.

Pig? Or just 'unspecified creature'?

Art Market at Bristol's Tobacco Factory

As I mentioned the other day, I was at the Tobacco Factory this weekend at an Art Market on the Southbank Arts Trail.

It really began on Saturday, when I was getting everything ready, finishing off one more sock animal (that'll need a blog post of its own) and playing about with how best to display it all.

We set off early on Sunday (8am is incredibly early for me). While in the car, I discovered some false eyelashes on my wrist-warmer. But that happens to everyone, right?

What?! I haven't worn false eyelashes since I was 18. Where did that thing come from? I'm still hugely confused. If anyone would like to offer any explanations, that would be great.

By the time we arrived at The Tobacco Factory, I was over the eyelash incident. And that's when I saw a man, wearing trainers and a bin bag (and nothing else), walking down the street.

Just an average day in Bristol.

Back to the Art Market. I liked this sign. Fonts can say so much. This sign tells me that the art and craft market upstairs is full of incredibly cool people selling incredibly cool things. Oh yes.

Inside the venue and we're right back to the obscure again where the lift (aka 'elevator') button is missing its button:

It didn't take us too long to realise that this was an old button and that there was a new, working button (which didn't swallow your fingers) just next to the lift. Added to the humour of the morning though. I must point out that my hand isn't that hairy. That is the hand of a man.

Anyway, back to the market...

The hearts didn't get much attention at all, which surprised me because they were my favourite thing on the stall. If I didn't care about things getting dusty, I'd display them all around the house because I like them so much. But I don't do that.

The neck-warmers got a lot of attention. I think the freezing weather (and the improved presentation!) helped. This one got the most attention:

Which again I find interesting because I like the bluey one on the mannequin best. This lovely olive neck-warmer is now sold. I do have more of this yarn though, so I will be making another one. Eventually. Maybe after the summer, unless someone put in an order.

Again, I was surprised (it seems I know nothing about what people want) that the gift boxes were popular. I always thought that everyone knew how to make them but, when making loads for the wedding last year, I found that people were fascinated by them. I was chatting to one lady about how they are made, but it got a bit too complicated without a demonstration. So, as I promised her, I will do a tutorial for the paper gift boxes on this blog. By this time next month, I will have done a tutorial. Just you wait.

The scarves were tidied up after this photo. Typical, really.

This guy also had a lot of attention, which was nice. He deserves it.

As I mentioned in my post the other day, I had my bag on display (at the Arts Market, not just in my house) and I will also be doing a tutorial on how to make your own bag from carrier bags. Just, be patient. It will happen though.

The bag was another example of me thinking "People like my bag! Nice! But they probably know how to make it so I won't go into detail because they wouldn't be interested in that." Wrong again.

So, it was an alright day. It was nice to hear so much positive feedback. It would have been even nicer if people had been a bit more prepared to spend money (!). I heard a group of people say "Oh look! I've found the prefect gift for Colin! Come and see this! Isn't that just perfect for Colin?" and another said something like, "You're right! That's perfect for Colin! We should get that!", then a third and possibly fourth person said, "Yeah! Get it! Colin would love that!". Then they left.

Colin, I'm sorry. Apparently I sell the perfect gift for you. I don't know what it is, but I bet you would have loved it. Your friends certainly think so. And yet they didn't get it. You know why that is, Colin? They just don't love you enough. Leave them, Colin. Break free! Make new friends!

Clearly I mustn't allow myself to do long blog posts because I start losing it. I think I've spent too much time at the computer today - blogging, tweeting about ME, putting together the sewing tutorial (it's finished, by the way). I'll be back later this week...

Edmund goes to tea

It still makes me smile to see what Edmund gets up to. I saw this the other day. Cute! Thanks for the mention, Kimberly :)

Maybe it's because I don't make that many things (or it's because I only sell a fraction of them), but it makes me all giddy seeing things I've made with their new owners. Do you feel like that? Not about seeing my things - why would you find that exciting? But do you feel like that about things that you have made? That's what I meant. But you may have known that and now I've just unnecessarily explained my structural ambiguity. I must stop. 

It made me think, 'I wonder how many people who read my blog have things I've made...' (a bit of a clumsy sentence there, but it's late and I can't be bothered to reword it). Like the person in Norway who bought some badges (I think that was my first Folksy sale).

Apologies for the weird look to the blog at the moment, I'm in the middle of changing things around. Hopefully, it should look loads better once it's finished.

Anyway, I may have some exciting news to share with you in the next couple of days, so stay tuned. And if you're fed up of never knowing when I'm going to blog next, you could subscribe to my RSS feed (click the 'subscribe in reader' link on the right) and my blog posts will be delivered directly to you! Well, you'll still have to look on your computer. They don't get delivered to your door. That wouldn't work. Unless someone printed my blog posts and posted them to you... No, you're just being silly now.

jingle jangle

I bought these as a Christmas present for my sister and I was going to force her to wear them. But then they whispered to me, begging me to turn them into some kind of sock creature.

I gave in.

They even have bells inside so that they jangle*!
*'Tinkle' would be a more accurate description of the sound, but saying that they tinkle when you shake them kind of gives the wrong impression. You get the idea.

This photo was to show the ribbon! They're not being rude. I thought ribbon would be nice so that they could be hung from a tree. Or just played with. 


I don't think I've got time to put them on Folksy though. Maybe next year?


Apologies for the blue photographs. I had my white balance on 'incandescent' - doh!

another bad photo

It's another bad photo from my studio. It was dark at 4pm today. But isn't this creature the coolest?! I love him! 


That's another one for my stall. Will you be coming to see me?


Today, I've been working on another sock creature made from Christmas pudding socks. So far, what I'm aiming for isn't working and I've ended up unpicking the whole thing. We'll see...


Oh and for all of you celebrating it, happy Thanksgiving!


I'm thankful that we're having a time of no dramas: no letters from bailiffs, no car trouble, no leaking house, just normal life. And I can cope with normal life. Thank you, God.

little stars

Here's another one for the Christmas Market in December. And another one with baby-friendly eyes! You like? I think it could be a sibling of this one. And do you think it's a he or a she? Mr Pippa and I always disagree on this. Well, alright so it's not that we disagree, but he calls all of them 'he'. Even this one and this one and this one, all of which I thought were girls, without question. Yes, I'm conforming to the pink=girl stereotype. Just because it's a stereotype it doesn't make it bad. Ooo controversial. Seeing men in pink reminds me of that episode in Spaced where the girls lend Mike a pink top to wear clubbing. If only I could find it on YouTube to share here.


It's been very gloomy lately. So gloomy that it's hard to tell which is day and which is night. I was waiting until some natural light to photograph the most recent creations, but the natural light isn't happening. Unless it's a day I end up staying in bed. Then the sun will come out just to spite me. Stupid sun.


Why was I telling you that? Oh yeah. That's why the photos aren't great quality. This is the gloomiest house I've ever lived in. No windows in the hall. No windows in the kitchen. Who builds a kitchen without windows? When cooking a roast, we have to open the bathroom window and the door to the utility room and the backdoor (which is off the utility room) so that we don't set off the heat alarms. But those heat alarms are another story. You'd think that, because they are heat alarms, you wouldn't set them off when you're making toast. Well, you're right. The toaster doesn't set them off. But using the grill sets them off. Oh, and having a hot shower. Yeah. Really what you want to deal with while you've got shampoo in your face.*

I'm getting distracted easily today. What was I talking about? Oh yes. I have another sock monkey to show, but the photos are worse quality than these, so I'll either wait for some sunshine, or I'll just show you the rubbish photos and trust that you can see past the blurry gloominess.

Is there any point in having breakfast now when I'll be having lunch in about an hour? 

Although, I spent that long looking for that Spaced clip that it's now only about half an hour until lunch. I can wait until then.



*I don't actually put shampoo on my face. But you can guarantee that, the time the alarm goes off is the same rare occasion that the shampoo decided to attack my eyes.

fairy dust follows me

I haven't been to a fancy dress party in a while. So I haven't stuck glitter to my face in a while. I haven't used glitter in my crafts for a long time - at least a year. And yet, I find sequins and glitter all over the house. Here is photo of the washing having just been emptied from the machine. What's that on the floor? A glitter star.

Where do they come from?! Mr Pippa is often finding them on his face (not stars - just a granule of glitter every now and then) and is convinced that I sprinkle them on his pillow to make him look silly.

I don't understand it.

The more I look at this one, the more she grows on me. I may keep the pink eyes.

jenga, anyone?

I'm not sure about the eyes. What do you think? I think that button eyes would look better. However, I want to make as many baby-friendly sock animals as I can (so that they'll sell better on my stall). Especially as the high-contrast print of this creature would make it brilliant for a baby. And yet, most baby toys are in soft pastel shades. What's that all about?

I've been working very hard to make things to sell at the Christmas Market on 5th December - ONLY 5 WEEKS AWAY!

I feel a bit like a game of jenga. No, I don't want to play the game, I feel like I am a game of jenga. I'm at the point in the game where I am swaying slightly, and if one more block is put on top, I will crash. Someone asked me to help with something quite straightforward but I could feel myself swaying. People forget that I'm ill. Or they forget the implications of it. Maybe they think I need to sleep a bit more but apart from that I'm basically fine. Or maybe I need to use a stick because I ache a bit but apart from that I'm fine. They forget that washing my hair is a massive task for me. They forget, or maybe don't realise, that writing an email isn't just a case of sitting down and writing. Everything takes so much longer and I have to think so much harder.

I thought about doing twitter feeds for a week on 'a week in the life of someone with M.E.'. Surely that's what I do already? No. I don't want to whinge about that poisoned feeling I get. Or how my arm sometimes can't even lift a cup of tea to my mouth so I have to get Mr Pippa to pour it into a plastic cup and get me a straw. Because no-one wants to hear that. But then, by not mentioning it, people don't know.

I'm not having a good week.

But on a high note, Mr Pippa did crêpes again today. Yummy. What do you have on yours? I tore mine into thirds and had nutella on one bit, sugar and maple syrup on another and with the last bit, I wrapped marshmallows up in it and put it in the microwave. Mmmm gooey marshmallows. It was lovely. Try it.

in my imagination?

Is it just my imagination or is it quite quiet on the blogging scene these days? Certainly has been here. Sorry about that folks.

I expect you'll get quite a few blog posts out of me between now and Christmas. Why? Because I've been asked to have a stall at a Christmas Market. HOW EXCITING! When I first got asked I spent the following few days drawing up designs of what I wanted my stall to look like. Thankfully, I managed to stop and remind myself that it doesn't matter how good it looks if I don't have anything to sell.

So, the socks are out and the monkey-making has begun again. I've also been making more neck-warmers and badges and jewellery. I've been trying to think of Christmassy things to make. So yesterday, I put the Christmas music on to inspire me. It didn't. But thinking about this Christmas Market day and night has certainly got me feeling Christmassy, which is a step in the right direction.

So today I thought I'd just show you a little peek of the first of this batch of monkeys. Yes, he still has a pin in his face. Well, he doesn't any more but there's no point trying to take a picture of him now because it's dark. You might as well wait until I've finished him and then you can have a proper look at him.

Now tell me: how many of you started singing Kylie Minogue when you saw my blog title?

goodbye miss pink

Believe it or not, this made me a bit sad. She was my favourite sock monkey and I was secretly hoping that no-one would buy her (although at the same time desperate for money).

I'm going to have to make some more sock creatures. After I've finished the wedding invitations though.

I'm not used to this camera yet

While sewing on the ears on this spotty monkey, I just had to take a photo.

I love how every sock animal has a different personality. These two were Christmas orders. Unfortunately, the only pictures I managed to get of them before hurriedly posting them in time for Christmas were these awful out-of-focus shots.


Please forgive me: it was a new camera and I had it on the wrong setting. Fortunately, these monkeys didn't travel too far so I will be able to get some good photographs of them eventually.

Merry Christmas, fellow bloggers! I was planning on doing a little post over Christmas but it was busier than I expected and I'm now beginning the slow recovery back to my 'normal'. But I did enjoy Christmas. Here's a glimpse of what mine looked like (I'm getting the hang of the new camera now)...

traveling monkeys

I had a lot of fun wrapping these monkeys ready for their travels. You know how much I love colour co-ordination, so I was especially pleased with the matching tissue paper.

Curled up and tucked in tight.

And ready to go...

That Folksy order brightened up a very bad week. Hooray for Folksy!

I am finally feeling festive (yes it has taken this long) and am actually looking forward to Christmas. Although, I'm also looking forward to January, when life gets back to normal. Also, I've been thinking about doing 365 days of photos. I'm sure you've seen other people doing it on Flickr and the like. I fancy doing it. All it involves is taking a picture of your life each day. I'm not sure that my pictures will be particularly arty, but I like the idea of capturing the mundane things in life: the things which normally go unphotographed.

Well, that's all for now. I'm going to photograph my new necklace - I'm so pleased with it!

number 11: the giraffe

Hello. I am Miss Giraffe and I love to read - plays, novels, dictionaries - just give me a book and I'm happy. Although, I do draw the line at 'celebrity' biographies. My ultimate dream would be to live in a library. But for now, a bookshelf is a very lovely place to be indeed. I don't say much (probably because I have no voice-box), but I'm a great listener and I love being around people.

Like her creator, Miss Giraffe falls asleep very easily.

I think she's lovely. It took me two days solid to make her, which is why I might not sell her. I went overboard with taking photos of her, as you'll see on Flickr. She's just so friendly! Now, does she look like a giraffe in leopard print or does she just look like a giraffe? As you know, I didn't even think these socks were leopard print when I fist saw them. In fact my very thought was, "those socks would make a great giraffe!" So tell me, what do you think?

I'm off to put another layer on. Have a lovely weekend.

number 10

I'm off the wall, I am! Forget smashing pumpkins - I once smashed a watermelon on my head! Well, I didn't smash it exactly, it was more of a squeeze. Oh hang on, that was a watery lemon. Well, even so, I'd do anything for a laugh! I once lost an eye doing a somersault - it wasn't even my eye!

Number 10 is different, as you can see. You can call him funny-looking if you like - he loves his unique looks.

The day I made number 10, I hadn't seen daylight for a few days and I wanted to do something different, but not overly taxing, with a sock creature. And this is what I came up with. It's only just occurred to me that number 10 doesn't look too out of place what with Halloween just around the corner.

He'll be in my shop soon. What do you think?