Monsters on the Edge

Wow, I’ve just got back from the most amazing weekend! I took my monsters to Festival at the Edge, where not only did I get to experience some awe-inspiring storytelling, but also got to show lots of enthusiastic people how much fun it is to make a sock monster. Even my designated ‘Artist Liaison’ (yes, I had my own Artist Liaison, I’m still showing off about that) and event steward got involved, they just couldn’t resist!

Doorkeeping and monster-making, high-vis vest optional

From just three basic patterns, people somehow made each monster different – this release of imagination is what really gives me a buzz about running workshops.

Homeward bound

One person made a cat-monster, another a snail. I even saw one monster (from a young lad who enjoyed the first workshop so much he came back the next day for another go!) dressed in a dinner jacket, with brass buttons, carrying a white rose, because “he’s just on his way back from a wedding”.
If you were at one of these workshops, please send me a picture of your monster, and I’ll post it on here. Sorry to those who missed all the fun, but I’m sure you ended up doing something just as brilliant

Horace

Big love to the festival organisers, I had so much fun both teaching and learning.

 

Craft Candy workshop II

A couple of weekends ago (yes, I am a slack blogger,  sorry)  I ran another workshop for the fabulous Craft Candy, teaching people how to make their very own sock monsters.

Hard at work

Tee hee.  I can report it went brilliantly – I had great fun, and I hope the participants did too.  I totally love seeing what kind of monsters other people come up with.

Mr Tickle? Mrs?

I give people a choce of just two patterns, yet every monster turns out different; this to me is why I love monsters so much

The creators of these two lovelies used exactly the same base pattern.  Twins? Or partners in crime?  You decide.  Whatever, I think they rock.

If you’d like me to run a workshop for your group/workplace/party,  check my workshop page, and get in touch!

 

New things!

New monsters and monstery things for sale on my DaWanda site, so get yourself over and have a look.

And as wedding season approacheth, don’t forget I also do personal commissions. Don’t want to be the one to give the happy couple another toastrack or fondue set? Why not get them a happy couple of monsters! Please get in touch and we can discuss colours, what they like/dislike, what their hobbies are, and so on, so that I can design you (and them) something really special.

 

Made In Hillsborough

You’ve heard of/seen all the top-of-the-range silver and stainless steel that is Made In Sheffield. Well Picky Miss is proud to announce that all you see here is Made In Hillsborough! I now have permission from Hillsborough Forum to use the new logo on all my products.

Designed by local artist Emma Metcalfe, the logo was launched last week, and let’s hope it goes from strength to strength
You can also follow its progress to fame and fortune on Twitter #MadeInHillsborough

 

Xander, the sock monster who sees everything

Yes I know, I know, I do try not to name my sock monsters, but this one I just had to. I’ve named him Xander, because I’m geeky like that.

Much though I’d love it if someone bought him, I’ll be sorry to see him go. Don’t forget I’ll be at the Craft Candy Spring Fling this Saturday, at the Millennium Galleries in Sheffield. Xander will be there too, come and give him a cuddle.

 

Waste Not Want Not

I knew I was right to keep everything. I knew there was a use for the leftover scraps of leftover scraps of leftover socks, and I was right. Ha. I give you… sock scrap pincushion turtles!

Some people would have thrown these bits away – shame on them. He he, Smug Mode

I’ll be making a whole pile more of these in time for next week’s (yes, next week folks!) Spring Fling at the Millennium Galleries, so if you’re short of a pincushion, or a monster, then come and say hi.

 

Spring Fling!

No doubt I’ll be plugging this more as the time approaches, but make sure you save the date for the fantabulous Craft Candy Spring Fling!

 

Aw, so cute!

OK, I confess, I am sometimes quite taken aback with just how lovely some of my monsters turn out. “But you made them! Surely you know what they’re going to look like?” – um, no. If I was an expert stitcher, I could plan and predict exactly what my needle would create. But I’m not, plus every sock stretches in a *slightly* different way. Anyway, the unpredictability of monster-making is precisely why I love it so much.
So, every now and then, I have a go at something a little bit different, and then when it’s finished I stand back in amazement and think ‘where did that come from? It’s gorgeous!’. Yes, duh, I’m biased. But… don’t you think this is just a little bit cute?

 

More gloves!

Just got back from a brief jolly to London.  I didn’t see any single gloves lying around – I’m guessing street cleaners are a lot more on the ball in the Big Smoke.  Either that or single gloves have better access to dating opportunities…  Anyway, Charlotte, my lovely hostess-with-the-mostest, had been keeping her eyes peeled during the winter months and rescued a few for me

These will now go into my ‘lost gloves’ stash, and at some stage be resurrected as monsters.  This is more of an art project, and one I’m experimenting with alongside Sarah Cole, who has been charting the tragedy of lost gloves for a few years now.  This fine creature came to me as a slinky elbow-length mitten thing, cruelly abandoned in Leeds.

All you lost and lonely gloves out there, take heart!

 

Party time!

Well, I got to do my first ever Picky Miss birthday party last weekend, and it was great!  I had fun, and I’m pretty sure the partygoers did too.  ”A Picky Miss party?”  I hear you say, “Is that a bit like an Ann Summers party?”.  Sadly (or not), no it isn’t.  It’s your own personal sock-monster-making workshop, in your house, for your friends.  I even bring the socks.

Anyway this was Philippa’s party, and we had Fun.  The monsters that emerged from the sock pile that evening were, in my opinion, just brilliant.  I was particularly impressed by those who claimed, at the beginning of the evening, that they couldn’t sew, and would never be able to make a monster.  Guess what? They did! (Guilty as charged, left of photo)

Monster-making as a social bonding activity.  There were periods of intense concentration, but mostly it was a good chance to chat (and eat delicious home-made biscuits).

I encourage people to stitch first, and cut out later, so making a start with the scissors marks you out as someone who has successfully negotiated the first challenge!  And it’s when you get to the mouth, that your stuffed sock really starts to look like a monster.  Very exciting.

When you’ve finished sewing, and stuffing, your monster, it’s going to need some eyes and embellishments.  And you thought choosing a sock was hard

Finished monsters, happy sewers!  A birthday party like no other.

If *you* would like to treat your birthday guests to a workshop with a difference, please do not hesitate to get in touch.  Your guests will get a new skill, their own sock monster, and a party bag full of goodies; you will get more kudos than you know what to do with, for throwing the most fun, most unusual party ever.

I am based in Sheffield, but may consider travelling further afield.