|
|
|
|
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.
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.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Sock monkey' Start a new discussion about 'Sock monkey' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
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.
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 efforts by Dee Lindner, the Sock Monkey Lady, who began to spread sock monkey cheer in 2001 in new ways with her sock monkey doll themed creations and photography work, and 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 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 and will take place on Saturday, March 7 and Sunday, March 8, in 2009. The event draws nearly 1,500 individuals and continues to grow in attendance each year. An original one-of-a-kind event, Sock Monkey Madness Festival, will return as a unique celebration of Rockford’s past by highlighting its knitting industry and boom of the stuffed sock toy which continues as a large part of America’s pop culture from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, March 7 and March 8, at Midway Village Museum, 6799 Guilford Road, Rockford.
At the family festival, visitors to Midway Village Museum have the opportunity to use their own talents and imagination to create a Sock Monkey. Attractions at the event also include: an exhibit featuring the local history of the knitting industry, the creation of the sock monkey, sock monkey workshops, book signings, a Miss Sockford talent contest, medical check-ups for sock monkeys and a film festival. The museum store will also sell locally crafted sock monkeys and accessories, and themed out-of-the ordinary merchandise.
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 he 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 The 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 , 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). She would later publish another book titled Friends Knock Your Socks Off (ISBN 978-1-59359-898-3).
- 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 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.
External links
- - Free instructions on making different types of Sock Monkeys.
-
-
- - Step by step directions with photographs. Very easy to understand.
|
| |
|
|
