Mysterious, charming, and delicious, squid have fascinated and terrified humanity ever since Pliny the Elder reported a giant squid attack on seaside Spanish fish-brining tanks, with several dogs and fisherman bludgeoned in the melee (recounted in his Naturalis Historia, circa 77 CE). Hence, the squid is a natural subject for adorable handicrafts.

The noble squid is distinguished from the lowly octopus by having an elongated mantle (or headsac) with two stabilizing fins, eight to ten arms with suckers all down their length along their inside surface, and two significantly longer hunting tentacles that only have suckers on their club-shaped tips.

Figure 3-1. The finished Sock Squid