New Sock Monkey litter

Been very busy making this latest litter of sockee monkey for a Xmas Bazaar. There are four monkeys and one sock 'critter'. Actually he started off as a monkey too but his legs turned out too short and he looked very peculiar so he had to be re-worked and turned into something else. That's strictly 'hush-hush', so please don't tell anyone

*******************

This one has an embroidered mouth and a starry body

Here's the critter. I think he's probably called Ronnie (don't know why but I thought I heard him whisper his name to me ).. He's quite funky....got a little goatee and a fringed tongue

This one's very surprised. Think I might have accidentally jabbed him with a needle in a sensitive spot

Aaaaargh ! This one's my favourite really. I've been saving this sock for ages. He's a sort of nice pale green with an embroidered mouth, a felted heart and a curious expression

Aha. A punky rebellious monkey. The black stripes are shiny and have little tufty bits and the pink mouth is sort of tasselled

Slow progress, Sabian and Splod

Well, It's beginning to feel like the storm may be ending. I'm feeling a bit more like myself and I have a new dose of herbal tinctures on their way to promote robust health, vim and vigour (ha, bloody ha).

The scabby chicken is growing back her feathers and the dog, who nearly popped his clogs earlier in the week, is sitting up and taking notice of a lightly boiled egg thanks to medical intervention and over £300 of veterinary fees. The Credit Card company are still bastards and I'm still very muddly but shall never make the petrol/diesel mistake again (hopefully) now that I have taped a huge yellow sticker inside the fuel cap which says (DIESEL NUMPTY !) in big black letters. The insurance company are also still bastards and trying and trying to get me to see some other trick-cyclist but I am not being persuaded to don any trick-cycling-clips for the time being so they can go and rot until I have prepared another diversionary tactic.

NOW, dear Reader, despite the upties and downties of the past few weeks your very own Cusp hath not been idle for I have been busy with needle and thread and sock and crafting more Sockee Monkee. One of them was before Xmas and commissioned by a glamorous young woman in the most select environs of the Scottish capital.

This Sockee monkee is an alien monkee who has beamed down from another sphere. His name is Splod and he comes in peace and is in need of succour and shelter until he can return whence he came.

As he has found a home with two delightful children near Scotland he shall no doubt be introducing his fellow aliens to haggis and a wee dram in the future (it'll be a long, long, long time in Earth years since one Splod year equals one Earth century so the dear children will have him to stay for as long as they want....or longer if Splod likes them: you do all know that Sockee Monkee never know when to leave or shut up, don't you? Honestly, you could put on your 'jamas, switch off all the lights and be half way up the stairs to bed before some Sockee Monkee would even notice you were gone, as they natterchattered away)

More recently another child who lives mid way between here and there was heard to cry

'...and what about me.....Where's my Sockee Monkee ?'

and so, after the Festivities, out I went straightway, hotfoot back into the shed to create another little Sockee chum to join the throng.

His name is Sabian and he's a Skater Dude

--'grind those rails, bro....'

In truth he's a little wayward but basically he's a good kid and needs someone to show him the right way. I knew just the fellow and his Mum. They are very, very nice people and know how to make very nice jam so I feel quite sure that Sabian's new housemates will provide the sort of stability and conserves that he needs and that they'll all complement each other wonderfully.

If you meet these good people, please don't tell them about Sabian's midnight forays into the fruit bowl, will you? When he was here we came down one morning to find banana skins all over the kitchen floor and wheelie marks on the lino. I had to make him promsie he'd never do that again before I sent him off to his new home.

(If there are any spelling misatkes here please forgive me. My brain is still Numpty and Bloggers spellchecker will not work ~~~ that's my excuse anyway ;-))

Now it can be told

One of the reasons I've been a little tardy in writing post and responding to comments in that I've been busy making more sockee monkee. They was commissioned !! Yes...other people actually wanted them ! ;-))

Anyway, I do like making them and thinking up all the biogs that go wit them and it's lovely sitting in my everso 'umble abode thinking about the monkeys sitting about in other people's abodes all over the place.

This time it was DJ Kirby who asked me to make two: one for one of her sons and one for her niece. She was specific about colours the children liked but left the rest to me. For all sorts of reasons it seemed best to make cuddly soft monkeys so I used a different kind if sock and, because they are for children I felt I couldn't use buttons for eyes as I usually do so I had to find another way.

The soft towelling socks proved to be a bit tricky to work with but I think it was OK in the end and thus Chutney and Pickles came to life.

Chutney thinks he's really hard and sports a mohican a sparkly earring and is poking his tongue out. In actual fact he's a real softie and needs someone to look out for him. DJ's niece is just the girl for the job . I don't know if she likes 'Hollyoaks' but if she doesn't it'll be tough because it's Chutney's fave and she'll hog the remote when it's on TV

Pickle's a lot smaller and younger. He's pink and green stripes with a sort of mask over his eyes and number 8 on his back: DJ's son's favourite number. They both loves trains and Pickle likes to eat Jammie Dodgers. Mind you he is a bit grubby and doesn't like washing very much ---that's why he has flowers growing out of his tummy button

David & Goliath

Not many posts of late. Too much going on. On the one hand I'm still being hassled by the Insurance company about my claim. They still insist I see a psychiatrist ---as is usually the case when they want to try and prove that someone with M.E. has mental health problems such as depression so that they can then say the condition is treatable and so it is possible to eventually return to work. I know I'm not depressed (though there's no shame in being so) and my Consultant has said I'm not. Even so the insurance company want to play this game of Cat & Mouse their way in order to win. Ill or not I'm a fighter and even though it's really beginning to get me down I'll not give in without a fight.

On a more positive note, I have had 3 orders to Sockeemunkee for Xmas presents (one is from that eminent 'Vedette Blogeuse' and renowned author NMJ) so at least I have something positive and jolly to bolster me up in the dark winter days and the pressure of being a little David in the face of Goliath.

New Sock Monkeys

Two new sockie monkie: this time created for my daughters' friends who are identical twins and lively as a barrel load of said creatures.

Voila..............................Wokkit and Phizz

Wokkit and Phizz are (nearly) identikal twinz. Wokkit is a bit more taller and Phizz iz a bit more smaller and they arent very good at speling yet.

They luv eech other very much and luv cuddlees on teh big chare
Wokkit is the moor dominent of the two and like to be protektiv. He is older by 3 secunds. He also like to giv kisses to peeple that he like. He hav longerer arm sso he kan reech hier up in the trees for nutz. Wokkit and Phizz luv nutz.

Phizz is smaller and lik to be cuddled by his twin. He pretend to be braive but reely he his two liitl and yunger by 3 secs so he needs more reassoranz. He like cuddlz too. He lik hunny and becoz he hav smaller armz it iz eesier for him to get his arm inside the hole in the tree to reech.

Wokkit and Phizz are lukky becoz they hav found two girlz to look arfter them and those girlz know they like nutz and hunny and must bee in the bed beforr 7.30 or they can be propper litll munkiees

Fraulien Poesie poses for pictures

And lo (no, don't ask me why everything has a biblical slant at the moment) the black hole spat out the many things it had been holding for many a day. Amongst them was the cable for transferring images from camera to computer and so now I can show you some pictures of Fraulein Poesie when she briefly stopped over before going over to The Great Forest.

As you can see,Fraulein Poesie is very particular about her appearance. She always wears jewellery -- earrings, necklace etc. and her famous purple trousers

............................with embellished cummerbund

She always carries her quill and notebook for jotting down ideas

Waiting for the muse to come upon her

Must quickly write this down

Now, of course, Fraulien Poesie is very happily settled near The Great Forest with Signs and Mr Signs. She must be very happy. She has a bohemian past and really relishes the exquisite company she now keeps.

Lucky Poesie !!

Sock Monkey travels to new home

And Lo...it came to pass that a Sock Monkey appeared in the night sky over Suffolk. She had been travelling for many a long day and night to reach her benefactor Cusp. Yeah, for she had toiled and yearned to move from her native Dusseldorf to Suffolk.

And Cusp looked upon the monkey and said,

'Truly Fraulien Poesie...' ,for that was her name,' .... thou
shalt be better off in the home of a great and true writer.

There's not much here to nurture your creative writing spirit for we are a house of visual artists and people-helpers, old chickens, old dogs, old rabbits and cavies....'

'Thou shalt be transported through the magic of the postal system (when it
is working) to a better place; a place where only great writers live....to a
forest on the edge of Publication Land.'

And so it was that little Fraulein Poesie took up her quill and her little purple notebook, dressed up in her finest purple pants and jewellery and winged her way to The Great Forest to meet Signs.

I believe that Signs has agreed to foster, but if you really want to see what happened next you must pop over to dear Signs' blog.

I would show you myself but my camera cable is lost in a big hole in this house which seems to be swallowing all manner of stuff at the moment: my cable, daughter's Nintendo, partner's spare mobile, set of keys.....all disappeared without trace!

No matter. Do hop over to Signs and help her to welcome Fraulien Poesie to her new abode

Sock Monkey with a twist: Mlle. La Raie

The latest sock monkey in the 'range' is, in fact, not a monkey at all. She was made at the behest of a friend of my daughter who said 'Can you make me a Sock Monkey like hers, but not a monkey....more of a doll sort of thing....'

This is the result: Mlle. La Raie who is a kind of hybrid since she has no muzzle, different ears, no tail and also has hair. She is very stylish. Stripes are very 'in' this season in Paris (she says) and so she is 'a la mode' as always. As you can see she has had a lock of her hair dyed 'pistache' and tied it with a little violet ribbon. She's quite the coquette, je pense.

Any'rue'up, this is the result of playing around with stuff and I'm actually quite pleased with her, though it has to be said that someone said recently that my sock monkeys are beginning to look more and more like JuJu dolls and, taking an objective look at Mlle. La Raie, I am tempted to agree.

Ça ne fait rien.

Luuuuuuurve GOD Sock Monkey

Time for a bit of jolliness I think so I've decided to show you my latest sock monkey.

He is very saucy and is a Luuuuurve God.

His name is The Very Rev. Aluicious Lordy Lordy Amoreuse

He's keen on religion as you can see from the crucifix given to him by The Pope

and he is generally partial to a bit of 'bling' hence the gaudiness of said crucifix, piano brooch and golden earring

However, he's also not averse to the occasional slurp of Communion vino

the old vino doesn't always have that beneficial effect however and he is inclined to get a bit amorous with the ladies.

He's very proud of all his 'jewels'

but, what with the flash image, the drinking and his favourite party trick.......

(lighting his own farts.......shhhhhhhhh!)

Things don't always work out so well in the Lurve Stakes

New Sock Monkey clears away the blues

Right....I was a right misery yesterday:grouchy at every thing and everybody (though in RL I managed to hide it all very well) so I've decided that today, though I still feel much the same I shall attempt to shake off the grumps and delight (?) you with a new sock monkey

***********************************************

This chap was made for another friend's birthday (all my poor old mates are getting these dratted things !). He (the monkey) is called Mikael and is a Polish immigrant who is looking for work in the gardening-line.

He's a bit of an old hippy and has grown a beard to go with his Lennon glasses

Gardening is his first love and his profession -- hence the daisy on his paw

After a hard day's gardening he likes nothing better than a natter in the kitchen with a cuppa at his side

Another Monkey

I made this monkey for one of my oldest, dearest friends. She's been a cook for neary 30 years. The monkey is called Suzette and she comes from Canada --funnily enough that's where my friend comes from too -- hence the maple leaf on Suzette's hat and pinny.

Suzette likes to make biscuits

Suzette likes to bake cakes

..and after all that work she likes to rest in trees........

Suzette was sent to my friend with her own little introductory booklet, so my pal has a bit of background on her new foster monkey

A little levity today

This is the sock monkey I made for my daughter's birthday. It's the first one I've ever made and I'm quite pleased with it