White Christmas and Green New Year Sock Monkeys

This pair of sock monkeys was created as a Christmas gift for the owner of Fox River Mills, John Lessard, and his wife, CFO, and Chief Environmental officer, Becky Lessard. Since Fox River is the manufacturer of the Rockford Red Heel sock, the sock monkey holds a special place in the lore and culture of Fox River. These two are "White Christmas" (the girl) and "Green New Year" (the elf boy).

Fox River's dedication to ecologically-clever manufacturing is the reference to "green" new year.

Some Notes about the monkeys' construction and packaging:

The monkey pair was made with one pair of Large socks and one pair of extra large (both John and Becky are very tall people, and I wanted them to have that look). I also wanted the "boy" to be a little taller than the girl, for that nice "couple" look.

Their clothing was ready-to-wear bear-wear from Michael's. I had to take a stitch here and there to affix the bear clothing to their more slender monkey bodies. However, I have to say that the tail opening in the red velvet bear shorts was ADORABLE with the monkey tail coming out. I have quickly learned that bright red is a wonderful clothing color for sock monkeys. There is something just perfect in the contrast of the bright red heel, the heathery brown and the baby-cream toes and uppers of the sock.

I did some experimentation with the eyes, because two of the sock monkeys I have yet to complete are going to an infant and a very, very, very early walker. Until they get past that teething phase, any non-embroidered eye is a choking hazard, as they can come off so easily. I pretty much still suck at embroidery (but I keep trying, and even got some tips from Karla at Fox River, who was shocked and dismayed that I lacked this womanly art -- if only she knew just how MANY domestic skills I lack!) I love the wiggly eyes. I just think they add so much personality to the cute monkey faces. Those of you of my age may remember the movie, Chucky. To you, I admit there is a slight ooky to the eye that suddenly moves when the monkey is still, but it's hard to imagine these soft creatures doing anything more horrific than hugging you if they were suddenly to come to life. So, my plan was to use a glue gun to glue a wiggly eye on to some felt, and then sew that felt on. In this way, you can have an upper eyelid too if you wish to lessen the wide-eyed innocence of the monkey. I had some success with this, in terms of securely fastened eyes. However, a couple of pointers: 1. Dark brown felt is going to make the eyes look kohl-rimmed, and may be a little too Bratz for some tastes. 2. Pale beige felt make the eyes look washed-out and a little froglike (this worked ok for an elf, but notice the arched eyebrows I gave him to make him look a little more clever). 3) Glue-gun glue dries VERY, VERY hard, so you don't want it to go out to the edges of the felt, or you'll have a heckuva time getting a needle through it to affix it to the face.

These monkeys were my second and third to have personalized, secret prayers within their stuffing. I just LOVE doing this! (see MN Love monkey to read more about this).

Finally, I had a lot of fun packaging these two up, as they had to be mailed to Iowa (I office in Minnesota). First of all, I took their pictures in various settings. I took them outside to the snow and posed them, and I also set them on our Christmas Tree (photo above). I then took the photos to make a card. If you've never tried this, it is SO easy. I use a simple package called the Print Shop ProPublisher, by Broderbund. I also posess (being in the field) the much more expensive Adobe Creative Suite, with Photoshop, Illustrator, etc., but I can get so much more done quickly in ProPublisher, that I use it for most of my personal stuff. (Mental note: Next year I should do a sock monkey calendar!) Anyway, I created the card and carefully posed/packaged the pair in amongst green tissue in a beautiful gift box I found at Party America. I got it off at the (very crowded) post-office today, and I hope Becky and John like them even 1/10 as much as I do!