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Stupid Sock Creatures!? Book Review

Posted on by Abi

Time for a book review! If like me you have noticed the recent popularity of creatures made from socks then you might be wondering how you too can get in on the fun. I have been keen to have a go for quite sometime, but despite being fairly experienced at sewing; cutting up and reforming a pair of socks seemed quite daunting. Enter Stupid Sock Creatures by John Murphy!

This book was very kindly sent to me by the publishers GMC Publications and I have to say I love it! For a start the author is very funny which makes the book very easy to read. He freely admits that his creatures came about because he failed at his attempts to make a sock monkey. So I chose a pair of socks and set about making a creature called Owlsley.

The end result? Well… he is very creature/monster like, but he isn’t such a great copy of Owlsley.

Do I consider him a failure? No, not at all. He is much adored by my daughter and I think this is rather the point the book is trying to make, that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to creature making.

Why did he turn out looking more like a donkey than Owlsey? I think it’s probably to do with several things, firstly I was using womens socks, the author uses mens so they would be wider. Secondly I was using very very cheap socks with a huge amount of stretch so my stuffing technique may have elongated his head slightly.

Finally the pattern is more of an explanation, it doesn’t give exact measurements, so I probably didn’t cut far enough down the sock to make his head, thus he got a longer one.

Would I recommend this book? Yes I would, it’s quirky and genuinely amusing to read. It also offers something completely different from the standard fare. I think my children could probably master sock creatures, I’m fairly confident my husband could too. Infact I wonder if they would be better at it than me.

Could the book be any better? Perhaps, I did find the instructions slightly difficult to follow, but I have a feeling this is because I am used to detailed patterns and this comes more from the angle of a person with no sewing experience. The huge benefit though is that the pictures are very clear. The part I most stuggled with was the mouth, thankfully the picture helped me work it out and now I understand what the author was saying in the first place.

I think this book plus some socks, scissors and thread would make a fantastic Christmas gift (I know, I know, there’s months to go yet, but we Mums have to think ahead!) It is also currently available at Amazon for a very good price.

Book Details

Title: Stupid Sock Creatures

Author: John Murphy

ISBN: 9781579906108

RRP: £8.99

Publisher: Lark

Publication Date: Autumn 2005.

 

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Grow Your Own Drugs! Book Review

Posted on by Abi

This week I have been reading Grow Your Own Drugs: Easy Recipes for Natural Remedies and Beauty Treats a book written by James Wong. If your not familiar with James, he presented his own television series on BBC2 called (funnily enough) ‘Grow Your Own Drugs’. James is an ethnobotanist and throughout the series taught viewers how they could make creams, ointments etc from plants grown in their own garden. The book follows this theme giving detailed instructions and recipes.

I could have dived right in and tried to cure the many ailments we all seem to suffer from time to time. But instead I plumped for the beauty section and attempted the Body scrub.

I assembled all the ingredients, all the lovely herby smells put me in a good mood from the beginning.

I chopped and cooked. I strained (without making too much mess).

The end result looked really rather beautiful. But of course the proof is not in the scent or the presentation. So off to the bath my scrub went and I am happy to report that I came out of that bath with silky soft and moisturised skin. The only downside is that the residue on my skin did send my white towel slightly green, but this did wash out without any trouble.

I have particularly sensitive skin so I am hard to please when it comes to beauty products, I also react quite badly to several additives, making a homemade remedy very appealing.

As for the rest of the book, aside from the gorgeous recipes, there is also a lot of very helpful information about which items to grow in your garden, where best to buy them or times to harvest. I can’t wait to try out some of the creams or facemasks. There is even a recipe for deodorant!

I thoroughly enjoyed the series on TV and I’m happy to say that the book lives up to the same standards, with the added benefit of concrete recipes and instructions. No more trying to write in shorthand and missing steps, they are there whenever you want them.

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Book Review – Cath Kidston

Posted on by Abi

Last Christmas I received as one of my gifts a book called ‘Sew!’ by Cath Kidston. I’ve always liked her fabrics and now that I have made a few of the items I thought I would share my experiences of the book with you all.

First of all the book lists 41 projects so I am a long way away from completing them all. They range from bags, cushions, tablecloths to aprons and baby/kids decorations. The book starts you on your way with some basic instructions of various sewing techniques. I think these are well written and fairly simple to follow.

Next the book comes with a large paper pattern piece, this is the kind where you trace over the lines you require and cut out on new paper. I’m not a huge fan of this method purely because I can only ever seem to lay my hands on small and stiff pieces of paper which are quite frankly rubbish for pattern making. But if you can locate something thinner/larger it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

The book also comes with all the fabric, buttons and even a label to make the shoulder bag shown on the front cover. So with fabric to hand this seemed like a logical place to start. Overall I loved this pattern, the bag came together quickly and looks pretty much exactly the same as the picture. The only difference is I left the Cath Kidston label off the front, no particular reason for this I just preferred it plain. I’ve taken a picture to show you the end result:

The book also has some applique templates at the back which could come in very handy. I think I’m going to make the knitting needle case next as mine is looking rather shabby. I would say that most of these patterns are fairly simple, if like me you appreciate the fact this means you can whip something up in a morning then you’ll be in heaven. But for some this book might just be telling you what you already know but with pretty pictures. On the other hand if you can pick this up on special offer the fabric contained makes this a good deal in itself so still worth the purchase. So I would definitely recommend this book, it certainly gives you lots of ideas you can run with and of course your not limited to their fabric/decoration choices. If your from the US I did some checking and this has not yet been published, but it’s coming in Oct this year so not long to wait.

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