Thank chuff for Lemsip

The last couple of days I've woken up with the threat of a cold lurking in the background; perpetually tired, a sore throat and that 'heat' in my sinuses. Yesterday I spent the whole day sneezing but I thought it was because I'd been having a much needed clearout and had dislodged loads of dust. As it turns out a cold has come into full force today. There was no way I was dragging my sore tired bones out of bed at the usual time this morning and my head feels like it's clamped in a vice as is squeezes out every last, well, there's no need to go there! The only respite is the miracle of Lemsip every 4 hours

...and all the while, in the back of my head, I have that niggling thought "is it swine flu?" I know it isn't - I don't have a cough, my body doesn't ache like flu, I don't "feel" sick but I'm waiting...

... and while I wait, my lack of attention to my work (and an excuse that I can't make creatures lest I contaminate them with some infectious germ) brought me to wander the pages of Etsy and I foumd these little gems:

Terminal Illness by Toybreaker

Dragon Particulare respirator by Tom Banwell

So I'll sit here, sipping my elixir and muster up the energy to get a wriggle on and get to work!

Starhouse - new stockists of Sock Horror

Starhouse is a fantastic new store owned by the creators of Starhouse Clothing in the heart of York. This unique shop is the newest store to offer Sock Horrors.

Julie and Kelly, the owners, have expanded their Starhouse clothing name by opening up this brilliant store in this historic Viking town. They’ve only been open in York a matter of weeks but are already building on their experience in Hull and have established themselves among the alternative scene.


Kelly and Julie’s first incarnation of Starhouse clothing opening in Hull in 2004 providing the city with affordable alternative clothing catering for all the different faces of the alternative market. They strive to be different from other Goth/alternative stores by constantly searching out new suppliers and smaller companies that will give them a lot of exclusives and one-offs. In addition to the usual brands they also customise a lot of their own clothes for sale in their shop. Amongst their wares you’ll find a collection of malicious Sock Horrors, Fluff Creatures and copies of our Sockmosis survival manuals. You can also commission a custom Sock Horror through them.

If you live near York, or just fancy a day out, I recommend you pay a visit to Starhouse. You’ll find them on Stonegate, one of the old streets that lead to the Minster.

I love wandering the cobbled shambles of the old town with the narrow twisting streets and the buildings that jut out to almost meet over the heads of shoppers.


There is just so much history seeping out of every crevice. York also has some of the most stupid laws that have just not been rescinded since ancient times:

You can legally shoot a Scotsman who is within the city walls, so long as you are stood on the city walls, you are using a bow and arrow and it is a Sunday… and even then you are only allowed to kill one per Sunday!

Or

On Whip-ma-whop-ma gate (the shortest street (15m) with the longest name) you can legally flog your wife for being drunk… though of course this doesn’t happen any more. Just thinking about the city makes me want to go back there.

In fact, as soon as I’ve posted this blog I’m going to plan a trip.

I’m a girl of extremes… all or nothing.

I latch on to a project; whether it is creating new creatures, throwing myself at a new profile or collaborating on a new volume of Sockmosis. I go for it hammer and tongs until I get to a place where I can say ‘my work here is done’ and then I move on. It’s not the best way of working. I become engrossed in that one task at the expense of everything else.

Recently my attention has been absorbed firstly by creating costumes for the fancy dress party a couple of weeks ago (the theme was Heroes and Villains; I was Audrey II from the Little Shop of Horrors and my fella was Optimus Prime)

With the Hitcher for those of you that know 'The Mighty Boosh'

Can you tell which one is the cardboard cut out?

...and this last week I was getting tribal garb together for our troupes performance last Friday.

I’m glad to say that both events were a huge success.

So I’ve been madly busy of late, yet I realise that my presence online has been neglected and Sock Horror has suffered. I came here today to find that my last blog entry was a competition launch… well, I’m sad to say I forgot about that! Didn’t promote it or nurture it at all, so I’m doubly shocked that I did actually receive some entries.

I’d like to thank those of you that participated and apologise for taking my eye off the ball. I promise to give you my full attention next time I launch a competition… watch this space because there’s another one on its way.

So, without further ado, I’d like to announce that the winner of the competition was Trey Rain who suggested that these adorable little creatures are Scouts of the Doldrums, sent ahead of the raiding party to scope out fresh supplies of socks and map out possible dangers. Well done Trey!