Okay, here's the how-to for a Glove Monster. This is a guideline, really -- your monster will emerge out of your gloves on its own. Do not attempt to stop it.

The gloves I'm using come from my local Fred Meyer chain store. They're knit, with no leather or reinforced patches on them. They're about a buck a pair most of the year. You can, of course, also use thrifted gloves, either odd or paired.

So, my first step is to look at the glove, and its five fingers, and decide which fingers should stay and which should go. Sometimes it helps to put the glove on, and bend your fingers around.

Next, cut off any fingers you don't want for your monster design. (But save them! They'll make valuable appendages later!) And while we're here, see how much taller my glove has grown? I found that the ribbing at the wrist was actually two layers of fabric, so with a careful cut, I was able to unroll it and get more fabric to work with, Maybe your gloves have such hidden treasures, too.

Now, where you just cut those fingers off, you'll want to sew the holes closed. And I advocate a pretty sloppy, exposed, and Frankensteinian kind of sewing for this. They're monsters, after all! Your seams will just look like so many monstrous scars.

I'm using good old six-strand embroidery floss here, and all six strands at that. I start by passing the needle through only one layer of the glove, so that my knot can be hidden inside.

A simple whip stitch works well for this project -- and better still if it's in a wildly contrasting color, and your stitches aren't too even. I believe that monsters hate being too fastidious.

When I finish a row of stitches, I like to pass the needle through the last stitch twice, pull this little knot tight, and then stick the needle into the fabric, so I can pull the end of the thread to the inside of the glove, and cut it off in there.

Next, you can begin stuffing, using plain old fiberfill, or any other stuffing medium you like. Stuff any fingers you've left in place first, and then stuff the hand. As you do this, the body of your monster will begin to come together. As I was stuffing this one, I began to see that the ribbing would make a dandy head.

When I'm making glove monsters, I use a simple gathering stitch do do most of the shaping. You can just make a great big knot in your thread, and pass the needle out from the inside of the glove, so that knot is hidden inside. Then, make a simple in-and-out stitch like this, all the way around the glove. Don't finish off your thread - leave it hanging for now.

. . . When you pull your gathering stitches tight, then voila! Neck! Just take a couple little tack stitches to keep the gathers from pulling back out. (By the way, you can also run a gathering stitch up an appendage. When you pull it, the appendage will curl.)

These gloves are really stretchy, too, so you can stuff them as much or as little as you like, and change their proportions. You can stuff in some lumps and bumps if you like. I decided here to make a really large head.

I closed the top of the head with another gathering stitch, by the way.

Now, it's Appendage Time! Take those fingers you cut off previously, and stuff them. And if you're using a pair of gloves, you can cut some fingers off the remaining glove, and stuff those too. Have some fun deciding where they need to grow out of your monster.

You attach those appendages with the same whip-stitch method. Just start your thread in the appendage, so your knot will hide in there . . .

. . . And stitch it to the body. Sew on as many appendages as you like, wherever they belong.

You can use parts of fingers as well. I decided that this monster needed a little snout, so I nipped the top off one of the fingers on my other glove, and sewed it on. I also gave my monster a foot for its one leg this way.

From there, it's all embellishment. I'm a big fan of size 6/o seed beads for this project. They make great teeth and toenails.

You can sew on or glue on just about anything you like. I find myself liking the low-temp glue gun for adhering things like googly eyes, or felt cut-outs. (I also seem to be developing a preference for an odd number of eyes on my monsters.)

You can also raid your button-jar, scrap yarn, and other oddments. The possibilities are endless.

That's all there is to it, really. If you get stuck, your monster will tell you what to do. Just ask it.