Socktopus

I can't remember now what exactly gave me the idea to make a socktopus for my cousin for Christmas, but at some point I decided it would be the perfect gift. You may still be thinking, "Socktopus...what in the world is that??" That's perfectly normal because I haven't seen a whole lot of socktopi floating around.

A socktopus (plural: socktopi - hey I get to create the plural form if I made it up, right?) is based on the concept of a sock monkey, but it's an octopus instead of a monkey...I'm thinking that last part might have been obvious by now, but there you have it in case you were still wondering.

I wish now I had taken pictures during the process, so I could make sort of a tutorial. Unfortunately, I can be a little overly focused when I'm making something and the fact that I might want to remember how to do it later / blog about how I made it didn't even enter my mind at the time. I started with four new pairs of socks. It was a little tricky trying to find cute knee socks in boyish colors, but it worked out in the end. I used fairly thin socks, and it might work out a little better if you can find thicker socks to use. The socktopus will probably feel sturdier with thicker socks.

Ok, now that I've started writing steps two different times and ended up erasing them I realize it's a little too complicated for a short blog post. Basically I used the tube part of all of the socks for legs - you get 2 legs per tube. For the body, I attached two feet from one pair of socks. I left one of the socks I used for the head completely intact (meaning I didn't cut the tube off, so those two legs were already attached to the body). Then I stuffed everything and attached everything. I used a book on how to make sock monsters that Hubs got me a couple years ago to figure out how to make the mouth.

So there's the very quick and dirty explanation. :) Confused? Well I would be if I hadn't made the thing! If you want to know how to make it, I can give you a more detailed explanation. It really isn't that hard because I had only used my sewing machine a few times before I did this. Hopefully everyone hasn't totally given up on me at this point because now I'll finally get around to pictures!

Just chillin' in my office chair.

Socktopus waiting to be wrapped for Christmas.

Thankfully, the present was a hit. Although I'm not sure who liked it more, my cousin or everybody else. Hard to say since he can't talk yet, but I'll take the slobbering all over socktopus' head as a good sign!

Finished!

I finally finished our wedding scrapbook...hopefully I'm not the only one who took a year and a half to finish something like that. I actually only had about four pages left for the last several months. In my defense we've had a lot happen in the year and a half since we got married -- After we married and honeymooned, Hubs got all of his stuff moved into the apartment. It seemed like once we finally settled into a routine Hubs decided to join the Air Force (and by Hubs I don't mean that I had no input because I did). Anyway, when he left for basic a few months later I moved in with his parents, then stayed with my parents for a few weeks after his graduation. I had all of these plans for tons of things I would get accomplished while he was gone with all of the extra time I would have, but I didn't seem to have much extra time. A lot of that "extra" time must've been eaten up by letter-writing when I wasn't at work (ok, and sometimes when I was at work). So basically that whole tangent is just to say that I was planning on finishing the wedding scrapbook when Hubs was at basic, but I don't think I even got the scrapbook out between all of the moving and letter-writing. Then we moved from Tennessee to California (no big deal...ha!). I can hardly believe we've almost been in California for a year, it really only seems about half that long!

Speaking of where we live, we ventured out on a hike last weekend. We went to Jacks Peak (don't know why it isn't Jack's Peak, but oh well). Hubs had been on a run there before, but didn't really get to take in all of the scenery. Jacks Peak is the highest point on the Monterey Peninsula and it has some awesome views! Thankfully it was mostly clear when we first got there. Who knew that in "sunny" California it would be foggy most of the time? Not me. But my issues with the weather here are a whole different story! We enjoyed each other's company, as always, and really enjoyed figuring out what spots we were looking at through the binoculars. I'm kind of glad we waited until now to go up there since we have a pretty good sense of where things are and what they look like now. Here are a few pictures from our hike: 

 Toward Monterey, Seaside, and Marina

Other half of Monterey and maybe a little of Pacific Grove

This is from the top, it was pretty bright outside 

so the scenery below is a little washed out

If you ever happen to be in the Monterey area, this is a pretty cool hike if it's clear. And have no fear, if you aren't very into hiking/aren't in great shape you can park almost at the top (you just have to pay 4 or 5 bucks). If you park lower, there's definitely more walking, but it's free and the first picture is from where we parked so the views there aren't too shabby either! I hope everybody had a good weekend. I think I've just set a record -- two blog posts in the span of a week. :-o We'll see if I can keep it up!

I'm a terrible blogger

Not quite as bad at blogging as I am at video games (at least that's what I'm telling myself), but really bad. I seem to only be able to blog in spurts, and whenever I see a really cool blog I think, "Wow, I should do that!" And I try to figure out how in the world they make their blogs so cool, but I usually give up after a few unsuccessful attempts. Maybe it will get better, but if you've somehow stumbled on my little blog lately...sorry it's bordering on pathetic.

We had a great trip the last two weeks to visit our families. We'd been counting down for months, and were so excited to see everyone! I met one of my cousins for the first time, and we got to reconnect with lots of friends we hadn't seen in almost a year. My high hopes for this particular post are already fizzling because the plumber came to fix our bathtub and totally derailed my train of thought. Crossing my fingers for a high quality post coming soon! I've been excited about sewing lately, so maybe I can share some projects I've worked on recently :)