STRIPED SNAKE SOCK CRAFT
The knee high sock, you will find, is good for many things. Not for wearing, of course. Good grief, no. Who wants to wear a sock that high? Are your calves really going to get cold? What sort of pants are you wearing? That may be the problem right there. No, I suggest you put those knee highs of yours to a much better use: Turn them into snakes!
The snake is a fun pattern that is a good one to try with kids. Any sock will do, but let’s choose a nice long knee high. We’ll pick a striped one.
To prove to you how simple the Snake is, I recruited the help of a slightly unwilling 4-year-old, figuring that if he and I could do it, it should be no problem for you at all.
Go to Brenna Maloney to download the free Sock Craft Snake pattern.
Source Free Pattern for Sock SnakeStep 1
My able assistant was quick to tell me that a snake is long and straight, so you are going to want to remove any sock parts that give you trouble in this regard. Go ahead and cut off the foot of the sock and, if the end of the cuff is, as we judged ours to be, “too lumpy,” you may want to lop that off as well.
Step 2
Unless you want a very fat snake, your next step will be to pare him down a little on the sides and while you are at it, you will want to shape his head and tail. You do this by rounding his head and trimming his tail into a point. Now he should look good and snake-like.
Step 3
A snake needs a tongue to hiss with, so you’ll want to hunt up an inch or two of narrow ribbon for this. We used a 1/8ribbon, but you could also use 1/4
ribbon.
Step 4
Turning your snake inside out, place the ribbon at the center of his head between the top and bottom layers, with most of the ribbon facing inward. Pin the ribbon in place.
Step 5
Sew the top and bottom pieces together, but as you do so, leave a small gap — maybe an inch long — so that you can turn him right side out. I’ve found that if you leave this opening about midway down the snake, he will be easier to stuff.
Step 6
Turn the snake right side out and begin stuffing. You can start on either end; it doesn’t matter. Stuff him evenly on each end until you get to the opening.
Step 7
Stitch the opening together using a matching thread and a slipstitch.
Step 8
Your last step is to put the fork into the snake’s forked tongue by snipping a “V” into the end of the ribbon.
Step 9
Brenna Maloney is the author of Socks Appeal: 6 Fun & Funky Friends Sewn from Socks,
published by C&T Publishing.
