Sock Monkey Monday: Ah, Love...

Love is in the air here in Monkeyville! I know that Eli and Sirus have something planned, but they've been quite mum on the subject whenever I ask. Maybe because sock monkeys, unlike real monkeys, are always quiet. Of course, there's also the Very Special sock monkeys for Valentine's Day too, which are making the house look quite festive.

I've never been a big Valentine's Day person myself, but I have to say, seeing the monkeys all dressed up for the holiday has put me in the spirit. Usually, I think of this time of year as Cadbury cream egg time. Oh how I love those little chocolate eggs filled with mysteriously delicious goo. *Gets egg. Noms egg*

While I nom my cream egg, here's some sock monkey photos for your enjoyment.

What I've been working on this weekend:

That's a Valentine's Day Ninja in the back.


Even Ninjas need some love!


I was trying a new technique for sewing the monkeys, so this guy has a longer body than I typically give them. I may put him up for $20 on Etsy instead of the typical Ninja price of $25. There's nothing wrong with him, I just don't think he's quite perfect.

Yeah, for some reason, sock monkeys are all male in my head.


This guy is one of the heartbreakers. He's sporting a broken heart of his own after all.


He doesn't look too upset about it though.

I'll be honest, I REALLY wanted to make this guy a skeleton, but I really couldn't without him looking too much like the Zparkleys skeletons. I certainly didn't want that, so I settled for skeleton-esque details.


These socks screamed to be made into a sock monkey, but they were ankle socks, so I had to improvise. The fuzzy body means he's extra cuddly.


Okay, even I can see this is a girl sock monkey. Not sure what her name is yet, but she has a lot of personality (she posed herself like that).

This is Jasper. He's the first I've done in homage to vintage cartoons, and while I wanted to keep him so bad, he's already sold and in his new home.

He's made from various ankle socks, because I saw these in the men's department of a store in the mall, and I just had to use them to make these monkeys.

Before he left for his new home, Jasper posed with Val, the second Valentine's Day monkey. I have to admit that I love the socks Val is made out of.

SoMoMo 27: BRRRRR!!!

There was a HUGE storm here in Monkeyville, which buried everything under a lot of snow. 

A LOT of snow.... EEK!!!

Eli and Sirus knew they couldn't do the job all on their own, so they asked one of their monkey friends for help.
The worked and worked until their monkey paws were sore, and in the end, the car was freed from the snow.

Such good little monkeys deserved a special treat! 

Sirus's special hot chocolate! But first, to get the blood flowing, some buttershots. YUM!!!

Warm snuggles for cold monkeys.

SoMoMo 24: Cookies for Santa!

Eli and Sirus were both very excited that Santa was coming this year. Santa was pretty kick arse already, because I got exactly what I asked for in my letter the DAY AFTER I wrote it! Thus, the monkeys needed to make some really good cookies as a thank you. They decided to make Sirus Monkey's Very Special peppermint cookies.

First step: unwrap and grind the candy canes.

Eli took charge of that step.

Second Step: Get the dry ingredients together:

Sirus says these are a secret... which is kind of true. It's Betty Crocker's secret at least.

Step three: Combine everything.

Eli was starting to get impatient.

Step four: Wait.

Very Impatient.


I think Santa liked the cookies, because both monkeys got exactly what they asked for this year.

SoMoMo 20: Scrub-a-Dub-Dub

 Last week, Eli and Sirus did laundry. This week, it was time for the monkeys to get clean.

The Sock Monkey equivalent of a do not disturb sign.



Cannon ball!!! Eli hopped right into the warm, sudsy tub.


Sirus on the other hand, is "surface wash only" so he was far more reluctant to just jump in.



Ahhhhhh.....


Drip, drip, drip....



Sirus took a bath in a less wet way, and used his wash cloth to get clean. It wasn't as effective, but it meant his seams stayed intact.


True love-- cuddling while waiting to dry.

Note: It's been very difficult for me to get the SoMoMo entries done every day with Christmas coming the end of this week. Sometimes, I'm just not home, sometimes, I'm just out of ideas. I'm trying though!!!
 

SoMoMo 18: Happy Birthday!

*Imagine that in the Frosty the Snowman's voice*

It's an Incredibly Important Birthday here in Monkeyville, it's the birthday of the Very First Monkeyville monkey ever, George! George is such a special monkey that all of the monkeys got together to celebrate.

The birthday boy among all of his sock monkey friends. Some Monkeyville monkeys, some store bought ones.

Monkeyville has come a long way in a year. However, George will always hold a special place in this monkey makers heart.

George's birthday cake was a banana cake from a local bakery. Just right for sock monkeys!

SoMoMo 16: A Favorite Pastime

Eli and Sirus took a break from their busy monkey lives to catch up on one of their very favorite pastimes. 

Both monkeys LOVE reading, and are getting very excited to participate in the upcoming Twelve in 12 challenge! Twelve in 12 is a challenge to read a book a month for 12 months. It's designed to get people (and monkeys) to realize that reading can fit into a busy schedule. Both Monkeys know that reading is important to keep their brains healthy, and they're looking forward to reading their monthly books.


Can't talk. Reading.


While Sirus re-read one of his favorite books-- The City of Dreaming Books, Eli took the opportunity to raid the bookcase for a book he hadn't read yet-- Junk Science.

SoMoMo 15: Letters to Santa

Tonight, Sirus introduced Eli to one of the first of many coming Christmas traditions-- writing letters to Santa.


Eli was worried his letter wasn't going to be very good, but he was sweet and asked for Santa to say hi to Mrs. Claus for him, and thank you to all of the hard working elves.

He was worried that Santa wouldn't know who he was, but Sirus reassured him that Santa knows where all the good little Monkeys live, even the ones that haven't had Christmas before.

Sirus has had more experience in writing to Santa, so his letter was less formal but very heart felt.

It's been an incredibly long time since I've written a letter to Santa, but I think I would write one like Sirus's if I could.

Dear Santa,  This year, I have almost everything that I could want. The only things that I'm hoping for is that I get a new day job very quickly next year, and that this Christmas is a very good one for us all.