Sock monkey

A sock monkey is a stuffed toy made from socks and fashioned in the likeness of a monkey. Sock monkeys hold an important place in the culture of North America as a symbol of ingenuity.Fact|date=March 2008

History

The genesis of the sock monkey came about when the craze of stuffed animals swept across Europe and into America, where it met the burgeoning arts and crafts movement in the United States. Mothers there took to sewing sock monkeys as toys for their children, and sock monkeys soon became a fixture of American nurseries.

Early

The iconic sock monkeys made from Red-Heel socks emerged at the earliest in 1932, the year the Nelson Knitting Company of Rockford, Illinois added the trademarked red heel to its product. In the early years, the red heeled sock was marketed as "De-Tec-Tip". Nelson Knitting was an innovator in the mass market work sock field, creating a loom that enabled socks to be manufactured without seams in the heel. These seamless work socks were so popular that the field was soon flooded with imitators, and socks of this type were known under the generic slang term "Rockfords". Nelson Knitting added the red heel "de-tec-tip" to assure its customers they were buying "original Rockfords". This red heel gave the monkeys their distinctive mouth.

Around 1951 the knitting company discovered their socks were being used to make monkey dolls. In 1953, Nelson Knitting became involved in a dispute over the design patent on the sock monkey pattern. They were awarded the patent in 1955, and began including the pattern with every pair of socks. The sock monkey doll was then used in promotional campaigns celebrating the widespread application of their product by inventive homemakers in the field of monkey manufacturing.

In 1958, the "scrap-craft" magazine Pack-O-Fun published, "How to Make Sock Toys", a guide to making different sock animals and dolls with red heeled socks. Frequently cited as being their most popular book ever, this pamphlet went through multiple printings and was being produced in new editions up until the mid-1980s.

Modern

The Nelson Knitting Company was acquired in 1992 by Fox River Mills, and the original brown heather, Red Heel monkey sock is still in production by Fox River Mills. A distinctive change in the red heeled sock design distinguishes monkeys made with Fox River Mills socks from Nelson Knitting Company socks. Fox River heels are more uniformly ovular, without the end points that gave Nelson Knitting-made sock monkeys their smiles or frowns.

Sock monkeys remain a popular toy to this day, though not as prevalent as teddy bears. Most vintage sock monkeys found today are no older than the late 1950s, and many date from the 1970s. A number of methods for dating sock monkeys have been debated by collectors, including the shape of the red heel, the tightness of the weave, the style of clothing worn, and other features. However, since sock monkeys are home-made rather than mass-manufactured, it is extremely difficult to accurately date any particular monkey.

Sock monkeys have seen a new growth in popularity in the 21st Century, largely due to craft sites like craftster, who held a "Sock Monkey Challenge" in 2006. The methods and materials of sock monkey production remain for the most part unchanged from those of the initial toys, though sock monkeys now come in a greater variety of designs, with socks other than red heels. One change is that polyfill and other synthetic fibers have replaced the old rags, pantyhose, kapok, cotton batting and even dried grain once used for stuffing. Indeed, some modern sock monkeys are not even made from socks at all, but most people have made them from socks.

The continued popularity of the sock monkey encouraged the city of Rockford, Illinois to embrace the doll as a part of its history. In 2005, Midway Village and Museum Center in Rockford held its first "Sock Monkey Madness Festival", while simultaneously opening an exhibit highlighting the industrial, legal, and creative history of the Nelson red heel sock and the sock monkey. The festival has since become an annual event.

In Popular Culture

* In the 1994 film Cabin Boy, David Letterman portrays a villager who offers to sell Chris Elliott's character a sock monkey by asking, "Hey! Would you like to buy a monkey?"
* David Letterman parodied his appearance in Cabin Boy when hosted the Academy Awards in March, 1995, by having various celebrities including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone screen test his line, "Wanna buy a monkey?"
* Designer Paul Frank sells a line of merchandise featuring a sock-monkey-like character named Julius. His company was formed in 1995.
* In 1996, Tim the sock monkey became the first monkey with his own web site, hosting a one page site that eventually evolved into www.thebigt.com.
* The alternative comic "Sock Monkey" by Tony Millionaire, which began publication in 1998 features a sock monkey named Uncle Gabby as its protagonist.
* In 1998, Barbara Kingsolver published the novel Poisonwood Bible. In the novel appears a "monkey sock monkey" named "Saint Matthew" a toy of narrator Ruth May.
* In 2001, the popular ITV Digital advert campaign featured Johnny Vegas and a knitted sock monkey named Monkey. The character was used again in 2007 to advertise PG Tips tea.
*The 2002 book "Sock Monkeys: 200 out of 1,863" (ISBN 0-972-21112-8) featured photographs by Arne Svenson of vintage sock monkeys from the extensive collection of Ron Warren. These reverent portrait studies became the basis of exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tokyo, and were featured in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and on CNN, awakening a widespread and new-found interest in this humble craft.
* Starting in 2003, Cece Bell wrote, illustrated, and published a series of children's books about sock monkeys.
* A sock monkey named Dickie narrates the 2004 novel "Sock" (ISBN 0-312-32805-2) by Penn Jillette.
* A 2004 film short by puppet filmmaker Justin Bastard Sane explores "The Secret Lives of Sock Monkeys".
* In 2005 the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" featured sock monkeys prominently in the fourth episode, entitled Return of the Shirt. A giant sock monkey is offered as compensation by Ted for dumping a girl (who collects sock monkeys) on her birthday.
* In 2005, artist Mandy Jouan created [http://www.mandyjouan.com/pages/buttons.html Buttons] , a 15 foot tall sock monkey.
* In 2005, the first "Sock Monkey Madness Festival" was held at the Midway Village & Museum Center in Rockford, Illinois.
* In 2005, Dee Lindner, a sock monkey doll designer, artist, and photographer, published "Monkey Love" (ISBN 100740754831).
* In 2006, Viking Studio published, "Sock Monkey Dreams" (ISBN 0670038083) by Whitney Shroyer, Letitia Walker, with photographs by Michael Traister. Sock Monkey Dreams chronicles the daily life of sock monkeys at the Red Heel Monkey Shelter. In 2007, the creative team launched the YouTube channel Sock Monkey Dreams TV.
* In 2007, In My Own Dream Studio published, "Everything Coming Up Sock Monkeys" (ISBN 097903230X) by B. K. Connelly, which is a comprehensive look at the art, history and business of the American sock monkey.
* In 2007, the Robot Chicken's Half-Assed Christmas Special episode of "Robot Chicken" featured a production logo that shows the Stoopid Monkey in bed with a sock monkey.
* In 2007, a Mandate Pictures film "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" included a sock monkey character. [The Internet Movie Database http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457419/faq#.2.1.1]
* In 2007, Dee Lindner, had a second sock-monkey themed book published, "Friends Knock Your Socks Off" (ISBN 978-1-59359-898-3).

External links

* [http://sockmonkey.net/How_To_Make_Sock_Monkey.html Three Sock Monkey Patterns] - Free instructions on making different types of [http://sockmonkey.net/How_To_Make_Sock_Monkey.html Sock Monkeys.]
* [http://lennytaylor.freeyellow.com/Monkey.htm Sock Monkey Plans - Instructions For Making The Red-Heel Sock Monkey Toy]
* [http://www.sockmonkeydreams.com Sock Monkey Dreams - links to modern monkey makers, monkey history, photographic examples of vintage sock monkeys and sock monkey news]
* [http://www.craftbits.com/viewProject.do?projectID=1104 Sock Monkey Craft Project Instructions] - Step by step directions with photographs. Very easy to understand.