One little sock dog.

This little sock dock is a hand-made toy, and so very cute. The project is from Sock and Glove: Creating Charming Softy Friends from Cast-off Socks and Gloves by Miyako Kanamori. The book includes instructions for making thirteen wonderful sock and glove toys, including a monkey, dog, cat, pony, piglet, elephant and bunny. This year the Trinity University Women's Club Sewing Group (TUWCSG, for short), of which I am a member, created handmade stuffed toys to donate to the local children's shelter. This guy was one, and he is so cute he was hard to give up, even to very deserving and needy child.

I LOVE this little sock dog, and I am also a big fan of the sock monkeys featured in the book. But you must be careful with sock monkeys, I have learned, because sock monkeys with bad eyebrows look just plain mean. Its something about the furrowing eyebrows. The monkey ends up looking less like a friendly Curious George and more like an angry chimp kept cooped up too long in an unregulated Mexican zoo. If you are interested in creating your own sock monkey look no farther than some instrucitons here, and keep an light hand on those eyebrows.

This year the Sewing Group wasn't very sophisticated or efficient in our toy-making plan. A few women in the group worked on the toys project by project, and an even fewer number of us took care of all the finishing work. I personally embroidered the faces on about ten felt teddy bears, and the experience clarified why we outsource so much labor to China. It's hard (and not much fun) to embroidered little smiling mouths assembly line style.

It is fun, however, to complete a project like a sock dog from start to finish. That is why next year I would like to spearhead this great idea to host an open house sock monkey project to create toys for the shelter. I will seek sock donations from a generous company, perhaps SmartWool out of Boulder Colorado (since I know they make fun, quality socks and have a history of corporate generousity), and then invite the entire Trinity community to attend the Monkey Party. I think I will serve banana bread and coffee. Guests will arrive for the two hour event and pick out a pair of socks and an instructions packet. I will have experienced sock moneky sewers available to oversee and help. Then over the course of two hours every guest will make their own monkey from start until finish, and I will photograph every attendee with their finished product. Anything not completed by the end of the party will be finished by the "experts." If all goes accourding to plan, we will have a at least two dozen or more sock monkeys completed by the end of the party, ready for little arms in need. I love it, I can hardly wait until next holiday season!