History of the sock monkey

Hello 

History of the sock monkey . The sock monkey originated from the Victorian era 

Stuffed Animals crafted for children and monkeys became popular and still are .

John Nelson a Swedish immigrant to the United States patterned the sock knitting machine in 1868

And began knitting socks .

He created Rockford seamless socks hosiery selling under the name of nelsons socks .

Later in 1932 the red heeled sock was made known today as the Rockford red heeled sock .The first monkeys was made from worn ones . Then developed in 1953 different designs but Rockford Illinois became the home of the sock monkey and borght the patent rights .

The oldest Rockford monkeys that are found now date back to the 1950s to 1970s

Fox river mills inc acquired nelson knitting company in 1992 .

Homemade red heeled sock monkey dolls have unique faces depending on the person who made them like my monkeys .The manufactured ones have the same face design .

New ones today are made from a variety of socks striped,polka dots ,even miss matched .

Few of mine 

The love of sockmonkeys has led them to be part of many occasions weddings,anniversarys ,birthdays  

Images on lots of books,bookmarks,greeting cards ,jewellery,even movies and more .

One reason sock monkeys are so popular because they are good luck charms and so result in giving as gifts .Sock monkeys are given to patients in hospital as a symbol of quick recovery,Employies to 

Releave stress ,Solders to release home sickness .

A few large sock monkeys have been made in Feb 2015 Jody Lewis of Bridgwater Somerset here in uk made the official Guiness world record for the biggest sock monkey made from indervidual socks 

Stands at an impressive size 10 feet 5.59 inches .

If I ever visit United States love to bring a few Rockford socks back with me make my own style sock monkey .

If I made one would have to keep it in my collection monkey ❤️ 

Don't think I would attemp any world records and making any big monkeys at the moment think I will stick to the normal ones ! 

I went on to make an original sock monkey and at the moment on to my third . My first Rockford inspecting my work just for fun 🙈

This is just a little short story just to give you an insight into the sock monkey lots of lovely crafty people make them but your welcome to pop by my Facebook page to see mine 😊www.facebook.com/sunnyteddysdesigns or visit my new website http://Sunnyteddydesigns.co.uk

Thankyou Julie