Sock Monkey Monday: Attack of the Ninjas

It was a day like any other here in Monkeyville. Sirus Monkey was contentedly working on his newest masterpiece: "Cosmic Cephalopod", while Eli Monkey was hard at work on his homework.

It's a lot of pressure being the first sock monkey student to ever attend Harvard. Eli has to make sure he gets good grades so he doesn't let the rest of the monkeys down!

All that work made the monkeys hungry so they decided to go out for breakfast.

Hey! Look at that, it must be one of Sirus Monkey's relatives!

Poor guy, he has a pompom stuck under his chin and his hands are sewn together! I guess he's not an artist like Sirus Monkey is.
After a nice big breakfast consisting of banana pancakes, with banana sauce and whipped cream, the monkeys returned home, there was still work to be done.

Strange noises were coming from the mailbox though, so Sirus Monkey decided to see what the post man brought.

It was Ninja Monkeys, and they weren't happy about being cooped up in that mailbox while the other monkeys were at breakfast! Sliding down the banister was just the first bit of mischief they got into!

Once in the house, the Ninja Monkeys made themselves at home by taking over the coat rack:

Ninja Monkey surveys his surroundings, looking for bananas... we think. He was a quiet monkey. Not the other monkey though! The other monkey went straight to the chandelier!

 That's one naughty monkey and no one's been able to get him down!

Red Ninja Monkey looked on bewildered, wondering why he's not allowed to hang from the chandelier.
Well, at least it won't be boring in Monkeyville with these two around.


Note from the Monkey Maker: The two new Ninja Monkeys are not adoptable, as they were a gift from the one and only Ninja Muse, because Ninja Muse is awesome like that.

Sock Monkey Monday: Happy Birthday Eli!

March 13th was Eli Monkeys birthday, but since it rained all last weekend, the birthday celebrations were washed out. Thankfully, Sirus Monkey had back up plans for this weekend!

First stop train station!

Once on the train, Eli and Sirus quietly watched the scenery go by.

Second stop, Cambridge!

Sirus Monkey, the artist that he is, wanted to stop and watch the Spray Paint Artist in Harvard Square.
Spray Paint is a bit too messy for sock monkeys so even though Sirus wanted to join in, he had to just watch. There are plenty of crayons and paints for him to use at home.

The entrance to Cambridge Commons, where Eli and Sirus Monkey had their very first date. Thankfully, the weather was much nicer this time!

Woo hoo! Cannons!

Some nice relaxing in the gorgeous spring sun. 

This statue stands near the parks entrance. 

On the back, it has the following saying:

Sirus Monkey thought that it was very important, because Sirus Monkey was a homeless, starving monkey for a while. 

After the reminiscing, Eli Monkey wanted to show off where he goes to college.
Eli is a very smart monkey, he's the only sock monkey student at Harvard.

That doesn't stop him from being goofy though!

"Look Mom! I got into Harvard!"
Eli Monkey poses with his human friend who has fingers and thumbs to work the camera.

Harvard Yard, with it's complete lack of parking spaces. 

After the brief tour of Eli's campus, it was off to see some of the quirky shops Cambridge is famous for.

At the Curious George Bookstore.
Maybe someday there will be a Monkeyville bookstore!

All the running around made the monkeys (and human follower) tired, so it was time to head home.
Except, there were two last surprises for Eli Monkey

The first was a present from Sirus Monkey, which Eli was happy to model, and the second was a cake just for him.

He looks so young for all of those candles, I guess sock monkeys age well!
Sirus Monkey spied the cherry on the cake and shouted:

"I get Eli's cherry!"

Tisk, tisk, naughty monkey.

Sock Monkey Monday: A Rainy, Rainy Day

The weather hasn't been very much fun here in Monkeyville. In fact, it's been pouring for days, and the monkeys are getting restless.

Ninja Muse Monkey just stared out the window at the rain and sighed. Today wouldn't be a good day for taking pictures. Tomorrow doesn't look good either.

What's a monkey to do?!





Instead of taking photographs, Ninja Muse Monkey decided to help her Ninja Writer with editing.

Ninja Writer was having issues, and lots of stuff needed to be cut. Ninja Muses, even in monkey form, are very good at letting a writer know what works and what doesn't.

A Ninja Writer without a Ninja Muse is lost!






Once again, there were strange noises around Monkeyville. Was it aliens again? Nope! This time it was a Ninja Monkey!

He was trying to be all sneaky, but he wasn't as good at it as the original Ninja Monkey.

Oh Ninja Monkey, everyone can see you there!

I guess the coast was clear enough though, because after that, it was straight to the kitchen.

Oh, of course! I forgot, we have bananas today!

I guess I'm not getting that one for breakfast. Good thing they came in a bunch of six.


Notes from the Sock Monkey Maker: Yellow Ninja Monkey is adoptable, he will be appearing on Etsy just as soon as his adoption photos can be taken (in other words, once it stops pouring). He comes with his very own nun-chucks.

Ninja Muse Monkey is already adopted and will be going to her new home in New Jersey this week.

The Monkeyville Residents

Monkeyville was started in December 2009, when a wonderful friend asked me to do a photograph a day in December (known as the DePhoMo challenge). I'm not a photographer at all, but I took on the challenge, and within days, it was no longer DePhoMo, but Sock Monkey Month (conveniently abbreviated to SoMoMo). This proved to be a popular endeavor, and soon, a larger cast was needed for the photo shoots. I had to branch out from being just a monkey photographer, to a monkey maker.

The very first monkey that could be called a Monkeyville Monkey was George. He was sewn entirely by hand, which took two full days, because I had a lot of learning to do in regards to sewing.

George didn't come out looking quite like a normal sock monkey, his ears have a rather Mr. Spock appearance, but for a first try, he came out okay. No one is ever perfect the very first time they try something.

I continued on, because I needed several monkeys for photoshoots planned.

Jacob Monkey was second resident. He takes his name not from the famous Twilight character, but from both Jacob Marley (it happened to be near Christmas) and a character from a novel I was working on for NaNoWriMo. In the picture, you can see Sirus Monkey (a mass produced monkey) looking at the newest Monkeyville resident.

After the purchase of the Magic Monkey Making Machine (the Monkeyville name for a sewing machine) sock monkeys began to take over.

(left to right: Dante, Chloe, Ellie, Matthew, Michael, and Josh Monkeys)

The more I practiced, the better I got, and soon, the monkeys were leaving the safety of Monkeyville. Thankfully, the first one to venture out into the world was Ninja Monkey. He was fully equipped to tackle serious bouts of writer's block (sock monkeys are excellent at this) as well as defeating any evil pirates!

There are several other monkeys that live here in Monkeyville, but they're not Monkeyville natives. The two that show up most frequently are Sirus Monkey, the resident artist:

 and Eli Monkey, the cheeky college student.

These were two of the very first sock monkeys I ever owned. Eli is a Monkey Shines monkey, while Sirus is mass produced. Neither seems to care about the other's history though, because they're very much in love.

Eli and Sirus traveling to Sirus's home town on the island of Martha's Vineyard. They're in Monkey-love pure and simple.