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Vivi and Lily Mars were the final sock monkeys I completed before the end of 2009. This is a fun couple because in actuality they’re two living sisters! When I first met Vivi and Lily they were the coolest rocker chicks I’d ever met. I’m happy we’ve stayed good friends all these years. In the photos I tried to pose them like siblings. That’s Lily on left with a star hoodie and Vivi on the right with a kitty sweater and pom-pom hat. I’d say the resemblance is right on! ;)
Tags: 2009, chicks, couple, custom, final, friends, hat, hoodie, kitty, last, lily, mars, monkey, photo, pom pom, pose, resemblance, rocker, siblings, sisters, sock, star, sweater, vivi, year
My newest Mars Sock Monkeys come with a bit of a Holiday flair and animal cuteness! There’s a sock monkey with a bear, bunny, piggy and a panda. I’ve done some of these cute animal designs on hoodies for my custom sock monkeys so I wanted to bring this nice detail to the sweatshirt hoodie. Included are some new colors: red and a Japanese piggy print fabric.
I used a technique called needle felting to add the small detail like the eyes and nose to the animal faces. I then embroidered their little mouths and attached the final pieces to the hoodies. I also tried something different by switching the heel part of the sock on some of the sock monkeys, which gave them different colored mouths.
This group of sock monkeys was fun to make. There were so many ideas that didn’t make it, but I’m sure I can incorporate them into next year’s sock monkeys! This Winter 09 batch of Mars Sock Monkeys are for sale on Etsy. As always, each of my Mars Sock Monkeys are one of a kind and handmade. Have a look. :)
Tags: 2009, animal, bear, bunny, colors, cute, embroidery, etsy, fabric, felt, felting, handmade, holiday, hoodie, inspired, japanese, kawaii, mars, monkey, mouth, needle, panda, piggy, print, release, sale, seasonal, shop, shopping, sock, sweatshirt, unique, winter
Lately I’ve been taking my knitting from my desk to the couch where it’s warmer. Doing this made me think of all the different tools I take with me so I thought it’d be fun to do a post on them. When I knit a Mar Sock Monkey Hoodie these are the five essential tools I need (left to right): Knitting needles, crochet hook, tapestry needle, stitch holder and thread cutters.
Knitting needles: One of my favorite tools are my Addi Turbo circular needles. I love them. I use size US 3 needles, which allow me to do some of the color work on the front of the sweaters. I also like that they’re circular because they don’t fall and there’s no hassle switching between them. My needles were bent, but they still get the job done! :)
Crochet hook: I saw a lot of these while growing up since my Mom is an avid crocheter. She uses some pretty small sizes for her work! As for me, I use a Clover aluminum crochet hook size C. It’s perfect for picking up stitches, adding finishing to the edge of knitted fabric and tidying those loose yarn ends. Also nice for making winter hats. The crochet hook has become such a useful tool for me.
Tapestry needle: Once all my pieces are complete I use a tapestry needle to sew the seams together. It has a curved tip which is nice for sewing knit fabric; the tip peaks out from the puffy stitches. The large eyelet works great on double knit (DK) worsted yarns. I own a set of Clover Chibi jumbo darning needles. They’re nice and big and come in a little capsule so I don’t loose them easily. ;)
Stitch holder: I used to use stitch holders to put my projects on hold, but these days I get some proper use out of them. They work like extra needles which secure knit stitches in place. I use one to hold stitches at the top the hood. While one half of the stitches are on hold I knit the other half of the hood using my circular needles. After both ends are done I connect them at the top using the kitchener stitch. I have a set of 6″ and 7″ extra large Clover aluminum stitch holders.
Thread cutters: I fell in love with these cutters as soon as I got them. They’re cute and they’re the tool I use the most besides my knitting needles. They work great on thread and even thick yarns. I use them when I sew on the sewing machine because they’re not bulky like big scissors and they’re quick to grab. I bought these from an old Edmund Scientifics catalog but I recently ordered one and they’re nowhere to be found. :( I’d like another cute pair like these…I also have a pair of these. :)
Yarn: I wasn’t going to forget about yarn itself. It keeps my sock monkeys nice and warm. I’m still learning about weights and types because there’s lots to know about yarn. I use double knits. They’re somewhere in between baby yarns and yarns for adult clothing. I also like to use cotton mixes and I prefer strong bright colors! I keep my yarns in a large clear plastic bag so I can see them when choosing color.
I hope you enjoyed my knitting tools write up! If you’re a beginner or advanced knitter, I’d highly recommend the tools above. Knitting is like many trades when it comes to using the right high quality tools. I’ve bought some cheap stuff and it doesn’t work as well as the higher-end stuff. :)
Thanks to Toby for taking some of these photos!
Tags: brand, clover, craft, crochet, cutters, darning, diy, essential, holder, hood, hoodie, hook, jumper, knitted, knitting, maribel made, mars, monkey, needles, product, shopping, sock, stitch, supplies, sweater, sweatshirt, tapestry, thread, Tools, trade, yarn
Here’s one last post for the last day of the month. Lately it’s been hard taking photos because it gets dark at about 4pm. By the time I’m ready to take photos there’s no light outside so this time I decided to use flash. I think it worked out well for this occasion. Gracie looks so cute on top of our “bear” blanket, which is so soft!
Gracie’s hoodie comes with a ladybug or ladybird as it’s known in Europe. This is Gracie hanging out in bed. See how the blankie is making her sleepy, very sleepy…
Tags: bear, bed, blanket, dark, flash, gracie, hoodie, ladybird, ladybug, Lauren, mars, monkey, photos, rainbow, sleepy, sock, time, winter, yellow
Earlier this morning, I released the new batch of Mars Sock Monkeys I’ve been secretly working on for the past month. One noticeably big change about these new monkeys is that they wear sweatshirt fabric hoodies, which I spent a lot of time perfecting so that they kept their original appeal. To celebrate the Fall and Halloween seasons, I chose warm and earthy colors for them to give these new sock monkeys a nice festive look.
These 10 hooded companions are the beginning of a new era of sock monkeys for Maribel Made! Just like their original ancestors with knitted hoodies, these little guys are also handmade by me so you know they’re made with great care and quality products. :)
These and more Mars Sock Monkeys can be purchased online on Etsy. Remember, not one sock monkey is alike so if you see one you like grab it before it’s gone!
Tags: ancestors, appeal, autumn, beginning, care, celebration, change, color, companion, earthy, era, etsy, fabric, fall, festive, generation, halloween, handmade, hoodie, knitted, launch, maribelmade, mars, monkeys, new, original, product, purchase, quality, realease, season, shop, sock, sweatshirt, warm
It’s been about two years since I made Shayla, Juan and Paul. In 2007 I had a full-time job, I did freelance design work and contributed to a startup I helped co-found with my boyfriend Toby called Musicmobs. In the end Toby sold Musicmobs to Last.fm and we moved to London! That was great, but before all that happened I felt extremely burned out. I craved a way to express myself creatively without being in front of the computer 24/7.
One day a friend gave me a postcard that showed how to make a sock monkey. I didn’t gravitate towards it immediately but I did start thinking more about sock monkeys and how they were made. My curiosity and desire to put my hands to work got me started on my whole sock monkey adventure! In fact, this is the sock monkey tutorial I used. Once Shayla, Juan and Paul were finished I thought they were missing something so I decided knit them sweaters.
Now that I’ve been building my sock monkey army I thought it would be fun to go back and update one of the very first monkeys. Shayla’s original sweater was what started it all, but it was definitely rough around edges. I thought since she was one of the first that she needed a nice new sweater. I think she likes her new clothes. :)
Shayla Mars Sock Monkey (Then)
Shayla Mars Sock Monkey (Now)
Tags: design, history, last.fm, makeover, maribelmade, mars, monkey, musicmobs, shayla, sock, startup, toys, web
Isabelle is my first “monkey” sock monkey! I made her from a pair of socks with little colorful monkey heads. I followed the monkey theme and put a monkey head on the front of her cream hoodie, which I added matching monkey ears! I also made her a cream flatcap. It kind of changes her personality a bit when she wears it. It’s like she’s a Gemini. :)
Tags: cosplay, cream, design, ears, flatcap, gemini, head, hoodie, isabelle, maribelmade, mars, monkey, personality, sock, stripes, sweater, theme
Meet little Ali-Star! He wears the very first baby star sweater and a new bucket hat I made from my stash of vintage fabric samples. I think I’ll use some of that fabric to make more sock monkey accessories! When it came time to sew Alistair’s bucket hat I found that the instructions I used were removed from the Simplicity web site -although it looks like they’re back up! Good thing it’s not a complicated pattern otherwise I would have had some trouble. :)
Tags: accessories, Alistair, bucket, diy, fabric, hat, instructions, pattern, sewing, simplicity, star, sweater, vintage
I came across Momiji dolls not long ago via the Momiji Couture Contest! Momiji dolls are friendship dolls which have a space underneath their body for a secret message. I was so happy to find out more about them since I love the original Japanese Kokeshi doll. I’m going to be so tempted to participate!
This sounds lovely: The top ten finalists will be exhibited at Royal/T in Los Angeles and the winning entry will be featured in Selvedge magazine. Contest judges include no other that Barbara Hulanicki, Pip McCormac from Sunday Times Style and Selvedge magazine.
Photos provided by Momiji Couture Contest. :)
Momiji Couture Contest
Royal/T
Tags: Babara Hulanicki, contest, couture, deadline, designer, doll, entry, finalist, japanese, kokeshi, los angeles, magazine, message, momiji, Pip McCormac, royal/t, secret, Selvedge magazine, Sunday Times Style, ten, top, winner
Say hello to Valerie, the newest addition to the family of brothers and sisters which include Phelan, Edwin and the LeAnn & Rhea twins! Valerie and her brother Phelan will be taking a trip to London this week to meet their new family. I’m going to miss them.
Valerie Baby Mars Sock Monkey
Valerie’s orange hoodie design is based on some art done by a group of artists called XLF. I suspect this might be Julieta’s work since the design is super cute (see below)! I also thought it would be neat to follow through on the graffiti vibe and add some splotches of color to resemble spray paint.
XLF art
Valerie’s orange “graffiti” hoodie
Tags: art, artist, brother, color, edwin, family, graffiti, inspiration, leann, london, maribel made, mars, monkey, paint, Phelan, rhea, sister, sock, spray, street, valerie, XLF
Here’s something the boys might like. This group of rambunctious sock monkeys were especially made for them. I used red, purple and yellow with touches of green, brown, blue and even pink! These sock monkeys with their boyish good looks are just as cute as the girls. :)
Shawn Mars Sock Monkey
Nick Mars Sock Monkey
Tomie Mars [...]
With every move comes a new work space and some organization. I’m always looking for ways to repurpose anything so my bits of scrap yarn were perfect for making a couple of holders for my knitting and crochet needles.
The pattern is pretty simple. Once you have a starting loop, single crochet (sc) all around [...]
Meet my most recent rainbow sock monkeys, Sebastian and Mimi. Working with rainbow socks is great because there’s an endless array of color options when it comes to making the hoodie. I also found sock monkeys make great thank you gifts. You can also never go wrong with giving your girlfriend a cute stuffed animal. [...]
This week was a whirlwind! I got the opportunity to sit at the 1,000th show of The Martha Stewart Show! Actually, the Twitter section of the audience, which of course meant live tweeting from the show and getting some VIP treatment.
It was great to see one of my favorite chefs, Mario Batali, make pasta and [...]
When I first read about steeking, it was hard to imagine such an unconventional knitting technique. Wikipedia says:
“In knitting, steeking is a shortcut used to knit garments such as sweaters in the round without interruption for openings or sleeves until the end.”
But cutting holes in knit fabric? To leave openings for sleeves? Sounded crazy to [...]
