This is Rupert Snodgrass. I recently interviewed him, with Luke's help, and found out some fascinating details about this less-than-superhero:

• He plays guitar in the Sock Creatures band (though he also likes percussion).
• He likes to eat until he feels sick, naps to feel better, then eats again.
• His special skill is standing on his ears.
• He becomes enraged at being called a "stuffed animal" and storms out of the interview at this point.

One of the members on the ART Yahoo! group mentioned the Stupid Creatures website   and I spent a lot of time looking around the gallery there. The monsters were all so different and each had their own personality. They remind me a little of Pokémon characters both in the way they look and in the way they make you want to collect them. Luckily, John Murphy has written a book about how to create these creatures and when I brought it home my older son, Connor, disappeared with it for hours, enjoying the funny anecdotes about each monster and the comic book at the back involving every creature whose directions are included in the book. He really wants to make one himself, though he has little sewing experience. I figured I should try one first, since I've got a little more sewing experience, and then I could help guide him.

The book clearly states that creature-making is not meant to be an exact science. There are diagrams that show approximately where you should cut and sew to shape the creature, but no measurements because each sock is different and the final character that results will be too. I followed the pattern for Jordan, basically, and found a couple of directions that weren't quite clear or appeared incomplete. This didn't bother me, but if I were following each step exactly it would have. Along the way I decided to change the ears a bit and omit the tail since the heels of the socks I used were almost worn out and I needed both heels to form the lips. I added a couple of teeth and a nose too.

I did a little of Rupert with the sewing machine and a little by hand. It's a good thing that the book describes well the different stitches you might use, since my hand-stitching skills are really bad. The fluffiness of the hiking socks I used hides my uneven, yet serviceable, stitchery and any stitches that do show just add to the handmade appeal.

This was really a pretty quick project and the materials were already in our house. I used one pair of worn-out hiking socks (ones with good heels would have worked better), one lone white sock for teeth, some buttons from our craft box, stuffing from a pillow that said it was washable but lied, and a chambray curtain tieback that wasn't being used. It was fun to shape Rupert and see how different locations for his eyes gave him different looks. Even when I was taking his picture I noticed how he could look worried, intense, or just plain lost depending on the angle of his head.

Luke was thrilled to receive him as a birthday present and Connor has mentioned that he'd like me to make him one for his upcoming birthday, too. Even my brother, Brian, said that he'd like one of these guys up on his dashboard.

Update: Rupert has a brother named Geeb now. He loves music too.