Valentine Sock Monkeys

This comes under the category of "Now, why didn't I think of that!" I am referring to making a sock monkey out of socks with bright colors; any style, any design. You just need to go sock shopping.

Sock monkeys are nothing new. According to Wikipedia, the iconic sock monkey appeared in 1932 when the red heeled socks came onto the market. I made this traditional sock monkey several years ago.

Even though he is missing an arm, he has held up pretty well through the years...especially given that he has been adopted by my little granddaughter and has been drug around.

I used this tutorial. I put rolled batting in the tail as suggested in the tutorial, but I thought that the tail come out too flat. Maybe a fluffier batting would work better, but for the next monkey I used fiberfill.

I thought that the fiberfill worked much better and it wasn't difficult to get the stuffing to the tip of the tail. It helps to use a stuffing fork to get the fiberfill into small nooks and crannies. Hemostats are also good.

The crocheted hearts add that special Valentine touch. For the pink monkey I used a heart my DIL had crocheted and that monkey went to her daughter. The blue monkey's heart was crocheted using this tutorial.

I used black felt circles instead of safety eyes. Invest in quality socks with a tighter weave. I discovered that socks with a loose weave tend to run when they are stretched.

Now go find some wild socks and sew up a sock monkey for that favorite kid in your life!