Sock Elephant in Progress

I started working on a sock elephant. Thus far, it is going remarkably well, though it currently resembles something from Star Wars.

Imperial Walker:

Imperial Sock Walker:

Part of it is that the legs are a little too long for the body, and part of it is the weird shape of the head. I think i put the mouth on a little too close to the front. I think it might look better totally on the bottom of the head.

At the moment, the trunk is looking like a penis. If I can't figure out a way to fix that, this guy will stay an Imperial Walker. Do you think there is a market for Star Wars memorabilia made from socks? Will George Lucas sue me? I'm following Rockford Red Heel Socks' pattern. It's not like I set out to infringe on someone's copyright.

The pattern is possibly the most poorly-written pattern EVER. It is the original Rockford Red Heel Sock Elephant pattern that comes with every pair of socks (along with their equally difficult to understand monkey pattern).

It seems the Rockford company now exists solely to sell socks for monkeys. This amazon link also shows BLUE socks, which would obviously make awesome elephants. I'd never seen those before. The instructions that are included are, I think, intentionally folksy and poorly written. If I hadn't found a better pattern, I would never have understood how to follow this pattern.

If you want to learn about making sock animals, Stupid Sock Creatures has a myriad of awesome techniques. He claims you can do it without a sewing machine, but I doubt it. It would take a LOT of very careful stitching to make the body pieces tight enough so that stuffing didn't leak out. I love his creations. They are ugly but adorable and really creative.

This is the pattern I followed for my first monkey. It has a lot of pictures, and very clear instructions. You can check out my first attempt here. My second try was vastly improved.

Birthday Monkey

Before Paddy, there was this little guy. A good friend was turning 30 and I felt like she needed something more than our normal birthday tradition of sushi and a pedicure (pedicure first, and then sushi. Not at the same time). Baby socks are tough to use, because they're so small. The arms and legs are so little, they're difficult to stuff, and it is a careful balance of getting enough stuffing in there without overfilling and making them rock-hard.

Baby socks make the sweetest monkeys, however, as you can tell from this little dude's sweet face. He looks ready for a night of drinking, right? Because I finished it the day of (hey, I'm not a planner, ok? I'm not good at getting things done ahead of time.), we didn't have a lot of time for an extensive photo shoot. We did get a chance to take a shot with Hank, though.

Hank is thinking, "why are you putting this guy in my face if I can't tear him apart? Why do you torture me!?!"

I like the little tip of his tail is gray - part of a new technique I'm using that gives the monkeys a little bit longer tails. I also like how he's got a little crook in his leg. Almost like those Captain commercials. I didn't think monkeys like rum...

Paddy McPolish

When I first started making monkeys, McPolish instantly said "I want one!" I figured her 30th birthday was as good excuse as any. When I saw these beer socks, I knew I had found a good match. Meet Paddy:

Paddy, like many of my monkeys, has an endearingly crooked smile. His arms also seem to hook at a jaunty angle. This guy is ready to bust out a jig at a moment's notice.

My only complaint is on the corner of his face - I couldn't get that little corner of felt to lie flat, so matter what I did. You can only sew felt so many times before it starts falling apart, so I had to let it go. But it bugs me a tad.

A close up, from his good side:

Happy Birthday, Molly!

Sleepy Guy

This guy was a request from a lady at work. He's got a night-themed sock. The lighting at work really washes out the color. He's a muted blue-gray, but not quite this muted.

I like his little pink nose. For some reason, he ended up with a really stiff body. I think he'll soften in time. The sock was a little odd. I couldn't get it to fill completely. I had to open him up and add more stuffing three times, just to get his tail to look right. I never did get the little corners out of his head.

Stuffing is tricky, because too much gives you a hard doll. Too little and they sag and fall apart. He isn't hard - just very upright.

I meant to crop the tacky silver Christmas tree out of the shot. It added a lot of cheer to my drab little cube, though. :) As do my cacti and picture of Hank as a pup.

This monkey is one of the first to go unnamed. Maybe because I didn't know the person getting him, he ended up a little generic in my head.

I like this shot - their tails are functional, and help them sit upright.

Weird Little Monkey

I started this guy for my nephew, and stopped because there was something not right about him. I still can't quite put my finger on it. It's like he's been around the block a few times. He's tired and I knew he couldn't handle a two-year old.


When I found out that one of my aunts was sick, I didn't really know what to do. There's not much I could do to help, and I realized that, if I were in her shoes, I would just want to know people were thinking of me. So, this guy went to live with my aunt and help her recuperate. He likes to just hang out and chill. She seemed more his pace. I added a little heart to his chest, because he's got a lot of love to give, and sent him on his way.

Martha & Eddie

Gene (scroll down a bit) was my first and, obviously, best monkey. I loved the pattern of those socks so much that, when a colleague was pregnant with twins, I made twin monkeys in the same pattern. Meet Martha & Eddie:


Though I grew to love Gene's embroidered eyes, at this point, I still felt buttons were best. I make all my monkeys with embroidered eyes now because I do think they have more personality than buttons. But, I think Martha & Eddie somehow work better with buttons. I love them.

There's just something special about them, especially Martha. For some reason, she looks like a five year old kid to me.


Eddie is more of a doll than a kid, but a doll a girl could go climb a tree with. Which is what I would do with him, were I not on the brink of 30 and without a good climbing tree.

Moncow & Silverbutt

Sadly, these are the only shots I have of these guys. I made both of them with the intention of selling them on Etsy. Before I could get pictures, a friend wanted to buy one. I brought her both, and she ended up buying both (not little Pete, of course).

This guy was dubbed Moncow, because he is a monkey sock, but she thought he looked like a cow. He was so popular, I ended up making a replica for a friend.

Burt the Busy Bee Monkey

I made this guy for my boss, who's baby is now about eight weeks. I'm a little slow in posting. She's named him Burt. He's got the sweetest little fat belly. I love it.


I thought the yellow and black might be obnoxious on his face, but nothing else seemed right. I think he turned out pretty sweet.

The blanket stitch around his face is more consistent than some of my past work, which I love. My smiles seem to be getting more crooked as I go. So far, the results are endearing. I'm hoping they shape up, though, before it starts looking like I have a drinking problem.

I think my signature is starting to look like I enjoy a few too many cocktails.

Oddly enough, Burt is built a lot like me, with long legs and a short torso. Look at him compared to the argyle monkey.

I must have cut the legs funny or something. It's strangely endearing, though. He looks like a little brother, all proud to be with his big sister.

Argyle Monkey

This monkey was made for my friend's niece. Her mom said she liked pink, so I wanted to find a fun pattern. I think the argyle is a little unexpected fun.

I used a light pink embroidery floss for her trimmings, which match the light pink diamonds in the argyle. You can see the blanket stitch around the felt better in person. I like her little crooked smile.


For some reason, the felt on her face reads shiny on camera, but it isn't in person. It looks closer in color to somewhere in between the dark and light pinks.

I always put my initials on the monkey's butt. They're easy enough to remove with a seam ripper if someone didn't like them. Someday, I would like to get little tags that I could sew into the tail seam or something, but I haven't found anything small enough that I could personalize.

The only pitfall with this monkey is that the socks were super stretchy. The elastic in them shines in the flash of the camera, so it is a little exaggerated, but the white areas in the belly are where the sock has stretched so you can sort of see the filling. It doesn't affect the monkey's durability, it just bothers me. I'm on the hunt for the perfect sock.

Carl, for my nephew

I made this monkey for my nephew and named him Carl. He just seemed like a Carl to me. The socks are by Little Mismatched, which I thought would be cool, but I'm not 100% sure that I like. I like the idea of the crazy colors and combos, but I'm not sure if I like the end product as much as more traditional socks. Good colors are important, but I think this many colors and patterns might detract from the monkey itself.

My nephew is about 2 1/2, and kind of a bruiser (I'm sure he'll follow in his dad's athletic footsteps), so Carl was double-reinforced everywhere. I found out later that two of the monkeys I made for a co-worker split at seams (though, apparently not too terribly, her daughter has a Dora band-aid on the monkey's tail and kind of likes it that way. Once the band-aid falls off, she'll bring it in to be fixed). So, since then I've been double-stitching all the seams AND all the attachment points. I mean, they're handmade, so if you beat them to hell, they will fall apart, but I try to make them strong enough to hold up to the everyday abuse that a kid would put them through.

I hear my nephew likes his monkey, which reminds him of his Aunt. The last time I saw him, my sister was telling me how he talks about his Aunt Cassie, who lives in Chicago. I love that, because I don't get to see him as often as I like.


You can also see in that picture the little Monkey Sleeping Bag that I made and embroidered. It looks terrible, but I've never embroidered words before, so I thinks it's ok. My nephew can't read yet, anyway. I also sent him "monkey care" instructions, which I'll post here, soon. Just the basics on how to care for the monkeys.

A little close-up of Carl with my elephant tea pot. You can see his smile is a little crooked, but I think that adds to his charm.

A better close-up shot. Carl is the first monkey that I did eyebrows on the felt - Gene has eyebrows, but not the felt half-moon. Carl's half-moon is kind of tiny, but I like it.

I always embroider my initials on my monkey's butts. For my nephew, I put them on a felt heart.

Interestingly, I have recently been putting my initials to the right of the tail, but for the first several that I made, I put them on the left. I think those on the left were turning out better than the ones I'm doing now. Maybe I will switch back.

Welcome!

I started making sock monkeys on accident. I had some extra fabric which I thought would make a good teddy bear for a friend's baby shower. As it turns out, teddy bears are kind of tough to make. I stumbled upon instructions for making sock monkeys and decided to give it a try. The first monkey was a little ugly, but I love him nonetheless. The second one was excellent, and still one of the best I've made.

That second monkey was the start of a trend. Someone at the baby shower wanted one for her kid. I made two more monkeys for a friend at work having twins, and then people at work started asking for them. I like making them and people seem to want them, so I set up an etsy store. www.funnymonkeys.etsy.com

I am getting close to putting some monkeys up for sale on etsy. So far, every monkey I've made has been claimed long before I have a chance to add it to my etsy store. I am close to finishing another monkey, which may or may not be claimed, but I have pre-made a bunch of monkey bodies, so I'm hoping my morning commute becomes a little more productive, and I can get more monkeys made before people request them.

Since etsy only lets me post pictures of things for sale, I created this blog so people can see some of the things I've done in the past. Pictures coming soon.

Monkeys!

First, there was Harry:Harry is not a pretty monkey, but he is loved. I tried, but I knew the first time around wouldn't be the best.
Next came Gene:

Who knew the second try would turn out so well? I got hooked. The following is my little monkey brood, all together for possibly the last time.
From left to right, in order of creation: Harry, Gene (gift for a friend having a baby), siblings Martha and Eddie (gift for a friend having twins), [Not pictured: Hanes, made from boy-sized socks. He's a white and silver sweatsock monkey, and mid-sized. Hanes was almost immediately adopted by the lovely wife of a friend of mine who saw Gene and felt a deep need for a monkey of her own) and the newest edition, little Pete.
Pete is pretty much the cutest thing ever. I stole - I mean, was inspired by an etsy shop of monkeys, which I didn't bookmark. I will find it and link to it. Anyway, I saw some monkeys on etsy with little felt half-moons for the eye area and the idea stuck with me. I would have kept to buttons except that Gene's adoptive family took me up on my offer to replace his button eyes with embroidered ones. Since I've never embroidered anything before, I decided to test it out on little Petey here. Pete was also a test to see if I could successfully handle baby socks.

Pete is, quite possibly, the most successful test of anything, ever, and I think I will keep him for myself for all time. He's got my first all-embroidered face, which I think turned out rather well. He's also got my first attempt at some new limb-attachment techniques, which I learned from a book I just got called Stupid Sock Creatures.

I haven't made any Stupid Creatures yet, but I plan on it soon. I'll be sure to keep you posted.

And, in case you're wondering, Gene's cosmetic surgery went off rather well. The button eyes give much more personality than my limited embroidery skills, so I had to add eyebrows to Gene. Please don't say anything about his scar, he's very sensitive about it.