My Monkey

Consider Phlebas

Sock Monkey

Click the link above and make your own sock monkey! I had a pair of socks with holes in which were dead really, but I loved them so much I wanted to keep them alive in some way so I decided to make a sock monkey. I printed out the instructions at work and one of the girls found them and suddenly three of us all went away and made one over the weekend. It's funny that one set of instructions heraled three such different monkeys: Chico, Nobby and Phlebas. Which one is mine?

Japanese Craft

Right so this is what you do.

1.Click hereand scroll through different japanese craft magazines and see what people have made from them. Amazon will only show you covers, this allows you to see inside some.

2. Click hereto see amazon.jp in the Google translator. It's not perfect but it will allow you to find the right section. If you start from the home, these are the links you need to follow. My link should take you right there though.

3. Link path from the home page:
Japanese Books
Living * health * parenting
Handicraft * craft

4.Click here to go to a site all about how to use amazon.jp. I found having the english equivalent up at the same time helped.

Give it a go. I have the above books which anyone is more than welcome to borrow and photocopy, so I suggest getting new ones so we get a pool.

Legs

So I have made some lumpy legs. I'm not sure if it is my techniques or my stuffing that has made them lumpy. I look on this as a test. The final design comes from this Japanese craft magazine. As I go along I see why you would want to change parts of this but I thought for the first one I should do as the book says. Well as much as you can when you don't understand a jot of Japanese. Here is a beautiful example of someone else's attempt.

The use of buttons

So here is my effort. I am really pleased with them. I was gong to give them away, but now I just want to look at them. They are so easy to make. If only I needed hundreds of pin cushions. I'm facing a bit of an overload.

Buttons

So I saw wee's beautiful pin cushions and decided I needed some buttons. Harder said than done. I went to John Lewis and they were sadly lacking. So I found an unexpected hoard of them in a great shop deep in Hackney's Ridley Road Market. It's an amazing cavernous place. Then I happened to pass another, smaller branch of John Lewis and found some. Then I found this great website. It's a bit difficult to navigate through and I was a bit wary about doing a bank transfer, but it couldn't have been easier. Now I have loads! I knew that old toffee tin I bought would come in useful. I just like looking at them all.