Owls on Parade and Sock Zebra

Well, now that I’ve worked out a basic pattern for the sock owl, I’ve made a few. Each owl is unique (since it is hand made) and has a character of its own. I decided to switch the button eyes to completely felt eyes as I thought this suited the owl more. I also angled the wings more towards the front and flipped them so that the same pattern from the socks was the outer of the wing, rather than the inner. The feedback that I’ve had from my family who have seen the owls is that they like them, especially the ones with the really large eyes. What do you think? All feedback is helpful!

Last night I couldn’t sleep (silly baby kept me up, kicking me in the stomach causing indigestion), so I worked on the sock zebra idea that I had. I’d already sewn the pieces on the machine, so it was just a matter of stuffing, and figuring the placement of body parts and how to do the mane and tail.

Overall I’m fairly happy with how he turned out – especially with the mane. I got the technique for doing the mane from a book called “Stray Sock Sewing: Making One-of-a-Kind Creatures from Socks” by Dan Ta (can be purchased through online retailers such as Amazon, but the pattern for the zebra is my own).

Unlike the sock monkeys I make, the zebras ears sit higher on the head, the nose sits lower and has button nostrils, and a short fringed tail (technique for the tail is my own as well – this still needs a little tweaking I think).

Upon seeing the zebra this morning, my husband commented that he liked it and thought he was good. Unsolicited praise! Yay! That being said, zebras are my hubby’s favourite animal, so the fact that he liked the sock zebra did mean a lot to me. What do you think of the zebra, any recommendations for improvement? Personally, I’m not sure about the eyebrows on him, but would love to hear your opinion.

Now to start planning out my next project idea. With the long weekend coming up I hope to get another project done before the new baby arrives (I’m due April 8^th) and I’m not able to get much done for a while.