Handmade Gift Idea: How To Make A Sock Monkey

There was a time when children would get just a few special gifts for Christmas.  In fact, until the middle of twentieth century children received fewer gifts, with many of them being hand made.  With todays economy many parents are thinking about how to make things simpler at Christmas while still giving their children wonderful holiday memories.

A Swedish immigrant named John Nelson manufactured the first socks way back in the late 1800’s.  These sturdy socks were popular with farmers and factory workers who had to be on their feet all day.    In 1932, after over forty years in business the company changed the look of their socks by adding a red heel.

Because of the Great Depression, mothers looked for ways to could create gifts for their children out of items they had around the home.  Some mothers took their husband’s old socks and figured out how to make a sock monkey and other animals out of them.  When the company learned that their socks were being used to create stuffed toys for children, they developed patterns and started including the patterns for how to make a sock monkey in the sock packages.

If you would like to know how to make a sock monkey  you can buy  package of socks and make one for yourself and your children.  You may be able to find sock monkeys in gift shops, but there really is nothing like a giving a hand made sock monkey that you created yourself.

You may still be able to get sock monkey patterns in the Rockford Red Heel sock packages.  Just in case the package doesn’t contain instructions, you can do a search online to find patterns that will show you how to make a sock monkey.  Go to your favorite search engine and type in “how to make a sock monkey”.  There are numerous versions, but generally all hand made sock monkeys will look similar.

What do you need to make your own hand made sock monkey?

* One pair of Rockford Red Heel socks.  They come in two pairs to a package and cost around $12.00, and come in various sizes so that you can make different size monkeys.
* Cotton batting or polyester fiber to make your sock monkey plump
* Red knitting yarn
* Black embroidery thread
* Black buttons, for the eyes
* All-purpose thread

Gather the above items, find your instructions on the Internet, and within a couple of hours you can have one or two sock monkeys or sock elephants.

There are several great things about a gift you make yourself:  you know what went into it and you’ve spent precious time to make it.  This will be a gift that your child will always treasure!