I was really hoping to surprise my 9 year old son, Shay, with a sock monkey for Christmas. I had made Eden a sock monkey the Halloween before last to go with her sock monkey costume and he had wanted one ever since. I was so swamped prior to Christmas, I just didn’t get it done. Of course, he wasn’t really expecting it, so he wasn’t disappointed. He ended up spending the day with a friend yesterday, so I surprised him with a sock monkey when he got home.

Making a Sock Monkey

The great thing about making your own is that you can make it any colour or design you wish. Shay certainly likes the Winnipeg Jets, but he was already a die-hard Boston Bruins fan before the Jets returned. His room is a Winnipeg Jets room, but I think deep down, his heart still belongs to the Bruins. When I was considering making his sock monkey, I thought I would surprise him with a monkey in the Bruins’ colours. I searched high and low for a badge or pair of socks that had their logo, but came up empty. Instead, I just opted for their colours. To be honest, finding yellow and black socks wasn’t all that easy either. I think that is why I never got it done before Christmas. It took several shopping trips to find socks of the right colour. In the end, this is what I came up with.

Pair of work socks.

Pair of yellow and black socks (this sock is actually inside-out in this photo).

I bought a package of socks at the dollar store for $3. It contained two pairs of mens “work” type socks. They were black and charcoal grey with a burgundy stripe. The socks were a bit more stretchy than a traditional wool work socks, but they worked fine. I used this pair to create the monkey’s body/head, legs, face and arms.  I had to make the arms and legs a bit shorter due to the burgundy stripe. I cut them off above the stripe as I didn’t want burgundy in the final product. I used the yellow and black sock to make the tail and ears, as well as a sweater and a hat for the monkey. I didn’t use the striped yellow and black socks for the entire money because the socks were smaller, more like a kid’s size.

I then followed this awesome tutorial on Craftbits (by Shellie Wilson). I used the same tutorial when making Eden’s monkey last year. I follow Shellie’s directions pretty closely, but tend to skip the pinning in most projects. It is not so much that it isn’t necessary as it is that I am too lazy to do it. Like Shellie, I use button eyes and stitch on the mouth.

The Final Touches:

In order to make him a Boston Bruins sock monkey, I had to add a bit of colour to him. So, I used the yellow and black socks to make a little sweater, hat and the tail. The hat was simply made by using the toe end of the sock with a few inches of the black to turn over into a bit of a cuff (not sure if that is the right word on a hat or not??). I didn’t even hem the bottom edge of the hat. We’ll see how it holds up, I may end up having to finish the edge if it begins to unravel. The sweater was made from the top part of the sock, above the heel. I did finish the bottom of the tube by hemming it slightly. I basically just pulled the little tube over the monkey’s body and called it a sweater! I did find that the tail was a bit of a problem, so I did a button-hole stitch and then cut a slit for the tail to slide through. This seemed to work fine. His arms are actually sitting over the top of the tube sweater as opposed to making arm holes.

Shay was thrilled, but had trouble figuring out a name for him. He ended up googling the name of the Boston Bruins mascot and named him “Blade” in his honour. Meet the monkeys! (Remember to click the images to enlarge the photos.)

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