February 23rd, 2009
From time to time through out childhood (I’m assuming you are close to your thirties or already beyond them to be included in this concept) either you had one, or you knew some one who did. I had a knit alligator stuffed with pantyhose, which in retrospect… might explain a lot. They are made out of men’s socks, the kind your dad or grandfather wear (and in some cases, even with sandals.) They are cut in specific ways, stitched and stuffed then fashioned with cute button eyes. Ta da… a Sock Monkey.
There are a number of pitfalls you’ll want to watch out for should you venture into constructing one of these little delights. Ear location, too high and close together, you’ll have a bear. The coronal positioning of the ears is also key; but too low and you’ll have…I have no idea what you’ll have, but it won’t be a monkey. The tail: watch out for the mid back sprout…that’s a bit weird. More disturbing is the tail that is far too proximal to the legs (he needs a pooper you know). Eyes say and convey so much about your chromosomal make up (are there branches on that tree?). The closer together the better! Think you’ve got the buttons where they need to be? Bring them a little closer. I’ve been there…I’ve seen the placement too far a part, closer to the ears than to the other eye. Those Sock Monkeys are condemned to live a life of a lower IQ than the average Sock Monkey…
I think they’re cute and somehow fragile compared to store bought toys, but ‘love’ went into the creation. Thought, time, and energy were invested; The care and planning that went into the making of this present went far beyond a quick road trip to the mall.. Comparably speaking, sock Monkeys are much like beef stew (bear with me, while I generate my point…and I will). When you hear a friend say, “Oh, I spent the morning making beef stew’ the response is so often (…and I’m paraphrasing) “I love Stew! You can eat it for days, and freeze it! Oh, it’s just so fresh and you can put in it everything thing and anything you want. It’s great in the winter!” But for a moment, remember the surfs, peasants and generally poor people who lived on stew. Do you think their opinions of stew had the same level of affection? No, I think not, I think it was more of a … “Well, we have these potatoes that are about to go bad, and a few carrots that one of our offspring brought in from the field, some onions, and ‘Hey you!…’go kill a rabbit or an animal of some kind for the life sustaining meal I’m making.” Alas, sock monkeys were once a toy made out of discarded socks, and the materials were reused into a toy for a child who would otherwise have little else with to play.
Now…if you, and by you I mean your child, should be the lucky recipient of a sock monkey, such a creation is doted upon like the Emperor’s new clothes, or a parcel from a far off land with treats never before seen. Truly, those in the room for the unveiling of these cute and lovable creatures are filled with joy and admirations for these button eyed primates. As they are no longer a reuse of warn out foot warmers, they are a gesture of tenderness for ‘little ones’ who will one day speak of them and their creator with great fondness.