I. Love. Sock. Monkeys. I blame my mother for introducing me to them at an early age. Ever since that first one at the age of 3 I've had a soft spot for those brown, cream and red speckled things.
Turns out there's a lot of history behind these babies. "The iconic sock monkeys made from Red-Heel socks emerged at the earliest in 1932, the year the Nelson Knitting Company of Rockford, Ill. added the trademarked red heel to its product." The Nelson Co was the first sock company to make socks without seams on the heels. They made the heels red to differentiate their socks from other inferior imitations. Once they found out the public was using this red heel as the mouth for monkey dolls, they attained a patent and included a pattern on how to make the monkey with every pair of socks.
Though not as popular as your classic teddy bear, the monkeys are an American icon, and were inexpensive and easy entertainment for both the creator and the eventual owner. If you care.
Also, THIS JUST IN. I recently purchased a pair of sock monkey slippers from Target. They are adorable, comfortable, and great conversation starters. Thank you Nelson Co. for the inspiration.
2 comments:
another reason to be obsessed with you. congrats on the blog, even though you copied me. p.s. when are you going to do an I approve: Ambika? Maybe when I get back to the U.S.?
I have a really great sock monkey story.
During high school, I was in Kansas City for a dance competition, and we ate at this Italian restaurant, Gambucchi's (I hear it is closed now, which is a shame, because the food was amazing!). They had a gift shop in the front of the restaurant, and for some bizarre reason, they sold sock monkeys. Naturally, me and my friend both bought them (I mean, who could resist?).
The next day, we are on the bus, and my friend is sleeping in the seat behind me, sock monkey clenched in her arms. Remember, we were high school girls, so the natural thing to do to your sleeping friend was draw on her face with red lipstick- and we did. Then she smeared it into her sock monkey's face while she was sleeping. After she woke up, she sat on the bus and talked to us for an hour before she realized she had smeared red lipstick all over her cheek.
Not only will she never forgive us for this humiliation, but she has never been able to get the lipstick smudge off of her precious sock monkey.
Post a Comment