artsy fartsy,  Tis the Season

Glovurkeys

November 13, 2009 /

gettin' cozy on the dinner plate

My mom and I were at the 99-cent store the other day, doing I don’t know what, and I spied these 99-cent gloves. I’ve actually seen them everywhere: the drugstore, the fabric store, the dollar bin at Target…it makes me wonder why there is such an influx in cheap one-size-fits-all knit gloves. Is it because they are made in China with lead-based yarn and everyone is trying to get rid of them before we clue in? Or is it just because in Southern California nobody needs gloves…unless they are dressing up as a mime or something.

99 cent knit gloves

Who knows. I don’t really care. I just saw them in some interesting fall-ish colors and thought, hey we could stuff these and sew them up to look like Turkeys, and of course my mom was all in for that. We almost even fought over who was going to sew them first. I won because I thought it would be good blog material. My mom likes it when I blog regularly. (Hi Mom!)

hey hey we're the turkeys

I guess it’s been done before but I thought you might still like to see my version of knit-glove turkeys. I’m calling them “glovurkeys.” They turned out kind of cute. Kind of lumpy and silly and missing their dingle-dangle wattle thingys.

cut and sew

If you need directions, all you do is buy two different colors of gloves. Cut off two fingers from each and swap them. Sew them back together inside-out. Turn them right side in and then stuff them.

stuffing

Mr. Turkey's lookin' like he had a few too many.

Sew on a felt beak and some beady eyes and voila! You have a glovurkey! Mine were a little top-heavy and wanted to tip over so I’m thinking if I did this again I would stuff a rock in the bottom for weight. Other than that I think this is a pretty simple fun craft. You could even make enough for every place setting for Thanksgiving and hang funny signs around their necks with each guest’s name written on them.

rock out with your...

Or you could just let your kid play with them like I did.

16 Comments

  • a chris

    November 14, 2009 at 2:26 am

    Wow, does Bug ever look like you in that last pic! Definitely around the eyes. But it may also be the pose…it’s reminiscent of some of yours in your favourites set on Flickr.

    Those knitted gloves: I don’t know what the deal with them is either, but I’ve noticed it too. My mom has been giving me one or more pairs as stocking stuffers every year for eons (I was going to say years, but it’s a lot of years). The problem is, they’re never big enough for my hands so they just make my fingers colder. That they’re just showing up now in Southern California may just indicate that the gloves’ diabolical scheme for world domination began in more glove-friendly markets.

  • The Chatty Housewife

    November 14, 2009 at 10:03 am

    Love these! I like the idea of adding a rock in the bottom for stability, but not if kids are going to play with them. Maybe a small bean bag would work too! For the red gobble thingy, a little piece of red felt could be added hanging down one side of the beak from the top of it. That would be adorable!

  • Linda

    November 14, 2009 at 10:56 am

    I think the overabundance of cheap gloves is because of the book “Sock and Glove”. They are ONLY being bought to make stuffed animals.

  • BeachMama

    November 15, 2009 at 4:33 am

    Oh my goodness, I love these!! We have tons of those little gloves all over the place. The only difference is that ours are all black. It makes it so much easier for us all to find gloves for chilly Fall days.

  • gingermog

    November 16, 2009 at 7:19 am

    These look like fun to make. i guess you could cut some wattles? waddle? out of deep red felt and sew them on? Sadly we don’t have Thanksgiving either. We do have Harvest Festival iN October where the church are decorated with fruits and flowers and collected canned good is distributed to the poor/ill/ elderly. Hmm I’m thinking here how welcome is a can of Spam or fruit cocktail these days?

  • Heather

    November 26, 2009 at 4:32 am

    I looked EVERYWHERE for cheap orange gloves and found none. I ended up with brown and black and the finished product just doesn’t look right. Brenda, you obviously have some good craft mojo!