My Sock Monkey Crafting Journey Begins

October 18, 2007

I have decided my next adventure will be learning how to make Sock Monkey Dolls and, hopefully, discover during the process what exactly it is that has kept this unique American craft alive for nearly a century.

My credentials. In terms of crafting, nearly zero. I had one quarter of a 7th grade home ec class devoted to sewing, in which I produced a somewhat lop-sided elephant made of some god-awful seventies-fabric that must have been on sale at the outlet store. Also, I had a roommate in college that made her own clothes (beautifully) that tried to teach me to sew. I bought a sewing machine, a bunch of fabric and several patterns. (The fever of purchasing supplies!) Alas, nothing resulted in anything really wearable, and the box of material and unused fabric was sold 15 years later at a garage sale for two bucks.

My sock monkey credentials are somewhat better. I am an I.T. consultant who does a lot of work for Fox River Mills in Osage Iowa, the manufacturer of the Rockford Red Heel sock, used for over 100 years in making sock monkey dolls. Of course, none of my work has to do with the sock monkey. But, by osmosis, I’ve picked up something from all the sock monkey dolls that adorn the plant offices, the bins of socks I walk by on the plant floor, and the material we publish to the web site (now we’re getting on my turf!)

I am prone to the reflective, and this tendency is further reinforced by the periodic 2 ½ hour trip I make from my home in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, to the Fox River plant in Osage Iowa. This trip involves a lot of time on long stretches of Interstate 35, and then winding through the small towns and farm country of southern Minnesota and northern Iowa. Beautiful sunrises over wide stretches of corn fields, punctuated with prosperous-looking red barns, and the seasonal smell of manure fertilizing the rich soil evoke both thought and emotion (especially under the influence of some strong gas-station coffee).

(I am also prone to rambling, but let me get myself in check here). The connection here is that it has occurred to me that there is something about the sock monkey doll and the people who make them that is distinctly American. It is something to do with the innovation of early pioneer mothers making toys for their children out of the socks their husbands wore in which to do their hard work. It is also something to do with using the resources at hand, and not wasting. And it is also something to do with simplicity vs. high-tech. I see parallels with this and the Fox River Mills business itself. This is an American manufacturer, a family-owned and run business. Fox River has always chosen to keep their plant in the U.S., to conserve and recycle in their manufacturing processes, and to continue to innovate in their sock designs, rather than finding ways to produce cheap, low-quality socks in bulk and maximize profits. And to this day, they have flourished with this philosophy. However, there is enormous pressure within the industry to abandon this philosophy, as American manufacturers choose to outsource to countries with cheap labor, and no green laws. It makes it really hard for a company of Fox River’s philosophy to stay in business. My thought is that somehow the fate of the sock monkey doll and Fox River Mills, as an American, heartland manufacturer, are intertwined and similar.

I don’t know what the answers are, but I’m thinking that embarking on this fun, crafty adventure will somehow reveal it to me.

And, on a lighter note, here we go!