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Remember being a kid and being dressed by your mom in those questionably bad sweaters? Of course you do! I know I must have had something with a clown on it and if I didn’t for sure my brothers did. And with unicorns being so popular nowadays, I couldn’t help pass the chance to do one on a rainbow patterned sock monkey named Danny.
See the finished sock monkeys here, The internet and circus sock monkeys.
George’s clown sweater
Danny’s unicorn sweater
Tags: bad, clothing, clown, hat, hoodie, monkey, pom pom, questionable, sock, sweater, unicorn
Ever since I finished making my batch of crocheted hats, I haven’t stopped thinking about other knit accessories I can make. I’m currently working on two projects, gloves and a knitted ring. Thinking about it it, they’re at totally different spectrums of complexity that it’s somewhat funny mentioning them both together! I’m not sure how the idea of the knitted ring came about, but I loved the idea as soon as it came to me and I had to make a prototype right away.
After making the starter ring, more ideas began flowing so I bought a collection of sparkly and cute buttons and yarn to be transformed into stylish and unique soft jewelery.
Btw, I LOVE BUTTONS! Most all my crochet and knit accessories are inspired by buttons! I can’t even comprehend my love of buttons, but it’s probably for this reason that it’s easy to find inspiration in each and build a whole article around them. :)
My KnitRings will go on sale the second week of November. Look for them then!
Tags: accessories, button, fashion, jewelery, jewellery, knit, knitted, made, maribel, ring, soft
Photoshop’s got to be my all time favorite piece of software! I get so much use out of it. Nowadays much of its use goes to everything Maribel Made product related and drawing.
I began making mockups of future sock monkeys for custom orders, but now that it’s become more efficient to be able to see a glimpse of the finished product I will probably do these for more and more monkeys. It’s actually great because it speeds up my production time and I save myself the pain of going back and forth on ideas, which tends to drive me crazy!
Custom order monkey with dinosaur sweater
What I did was prepare outlines for the monkey in Illustrator which I then opened and played with in Photoshop adding sock pattern and experimenting with colors. In my ideal world though, I would love to have a special software to do this. It would have an infinite amount of patterns for the sock, different sweater combinations, accessories (and if I didn’t make these with links to buy) and knitting gauge measurements depending on sock dimensions. Wow! I can just imagine it.
I sure love projects with endless possibilities! Although, for me it’s best to keep the possibilities in a controlled environment otherwise my mind can run loosely and I would just loose my focus…then nothing would ever happen. :(
Custom Edwin design
Talking about accessories, I think my monkeys would love a bunny from Dollmore as a pet! So Kawai!!
Tags: custom, design, experimental, graphic, mockup, photoshop, sample, software, technique, wip
Edwin Mars Sock Monkey is the first of it’s kind! He’s made from kid’s socks making him a couple of inches shorter than his fellow sock monkeys. I’m glad my client suggested using these socks. Before you know it, I’ll have a batch of little sock monkeys running loose in the house. ;)
Edwin Mars Sock Monkey pictured with Eileen from the Summer 08 collection.
Tags: custom, edwin, hoodie, initial, jumper, kid, knit, little, long, mars, monkey, orange, order, purple, sleeve, sock, sweater
Two of the four styles of hats I plan to sell this fall include a trilby hat and a cap with brim.
The Easton Trilby 2 in 1 hat, was designed to be worn as either a sexy trilby or a cute bucket hat. It’s made from two different colors and it can be adorned with a flower or feather on the side. The other hat, the Brisa Cap, is also made from two colors and carries a diadem-like band with buttons above the brim.
These two hats, including a beanie and a beret style hat, will go on sale at the end of September, so keep a watch on Etsy and DaWanda for these. These are women’s hats, but I’d also like to develop one for men in the future.
EASTON Trilby 2 in 1 hat
BRISA Cap
Tags: band, brim, buttons, cap, chunky, crochet, fall, fashion, feather, flower, hat, styles, trilby, wear, winter, wool
One day I know this illustration will be finished! My intend is to put it up for sale as a print on deviantART once it’s complete. It’s about the same size as Seijin Shiki, which I’m considering getting printed down the street.
So much still to do on this one though, but my goal is to finish it within 1-2 month’s time between MSMs (Mars Sock Monkeys).
Tags: art, coat, deviantart, digital, Drawing, eagle, girl, hair, Illustration, purple, red, wip
Now I know why it’s so exciting to be working in secret. I can’t wait to get this batch of sock monkeys out the door! I had a great response from my last sock monkey, Eriko, and I hope that these little guys will be enjoyed just as much.
These new Mars Sock Monkeys, which I named Lulu, Frankie, Stella, Ben and Sheena, were half-raised in Seattle and London because I bought the socks in Seattle before I moved and put them together here in London. They are international jet setter sock monkeys!
I should be finished with all five this week (four of which will go for sale) and hopefully do a photo shoot by the end of the week if weather permits. I’ve been thinking of a theme and will need a few props. I also have a few other unveilings. One being the new sweater design below, which I modeled after a polo shirt. This is Lulu’s puffy short sleeve hoodie. The rest you’ll have to wait and see!!
Here are some London raised next generation monkeys to be…
Tags: animal, ben, design, frankie, generation, hoodie, knit, london, lulu, mars, monkey, new, next, polo, puffy, raised, seattle, sheena, shirt, sleeve, sock, stealth, stella, sweater, tennis, wip
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 [...]
