Introducing JaqueO, the Red-Heeled Monkey

Happy Mothers' Day to all the moms out there. Hope you are all having a great day, and that you all hear from your kids today.

Here is my latest red-heeled monkey, whom my friend Betty dubbed Jaque since he is dressed like a Frenchman. I added the O. He is the first monkey I've ever made from the adult size small socks and he is about 14" tall as opposed to the 18" monkeys I've made with the XL socks. He's rather cute in that size; I will make a girlfriend for him next. He will miss the "group" picture at quilt on Tuesday, as I left him at the gallery yesterday:

Striped Monkey Boy!

He now resides at Sixth Street Gallery until someone can't resist him and takes him home. Perhaps he'll be under a Christmas Tree this Christmas.

J D Monkey is Finished

He now has ears, two, even though it appears in the picture that he has only one.

He has a John Deere logo on his hat, too--I'm hoping they WON'T sue me!!! (Please don't sue me!!! )

He was fun to make, but turned out a little bigger than I wanted him to be. I had to buy a second skein of yarn to finish his second arm and ears. When I write the pattern, I will want people to be able to make him out of just one skein of yarn.

BTW, the yarn I used was Vanna's Choice, mauve mist. I think it worked very nicely for monkey skin. So, if you want the pattern, stay tuned. I don't much like writing patterns, but if I want to have one to sell, then I have to do it.

I used "toe up sock" method for his body, and I'm not sure I want to use that for the pattern because a lot of people are unfamiliar with that method and it will take a lot of explaining which I don't really want to do. So that pattern may very well begin with the Monkey's socks and go up from there.

Mr. John Deere Monkey is Almost Done

Mr. John Deere Monkey, the prototype for a pattern is almost done. He now has arms, as well as legs, and ears. When I write the pattern, I will need to make it a little smaller than this prototype, as I had to buy more yarn just to finish the second arm and the ears. I want to make one that will not require more than one skein of the yarn.

Oops!!!

The grey body of the John Deere Monkey was NOT wool like I thought. And his socks WERE wool, because I made them to match what I thought his body was. SOOOOOOOOOOO, it was back to the drawing board to make a John Deere monkey that is all the same kind of yarn. He is coming along nicely and will go to my friend Karla's grandson. I will take the wool socks off the grey acrylic sock and make a wool monkey that I will try felting.

Sadly, Jessie Lee, the lady that made the (stray) grey sock I was using, and the brown sock from the earlier monkey, died last week. She lived a long life, taught Home Ec, and made many, many beautiful quilts. I didn't get to show her what I was doing with her stray socks. I was going to send her a picture of the one that's almost done. Darn! Some things you just shouldn't put off, you know?

John Deere Monkey!

Tried to post this yesterday, but Blogger wasn't cooperating. Went to a forum and everyone was having problems, so guess it wasn't just me--you never know if it's YOUR computer or a problem with the site, until you check the forum. My computer is off the hook this time.

I decided this time, with this monkey from a stray sock, to take a little more time and unravel the sock to the point where I wanted the legs to begin, separate the stitches into two legs, and reknit the legs with gray for just a short time (not much left of it--used a big hunk for the previous monkey's sweater), and then add extra long socks so the legs wouldn't be TOOOO stubby.

Then decided, I would put REAL socks on this monkey's feet--rather, his feet ARE socks. That was fun! I just used some old green wool yarn I'd picked up at a garage/estate sale, and it looked like John Deere when I added the yellow stripes. Working on the second leg now--stay tuned.

Offloaded a few more things this morning to the ABATE garage sale that is coming up this month--it feels good to get some stray junk out of here; wish I was done with that, but, alas, there is more; they may get another box or two from me before the actual sale. Included were a few small electrical appliances (coffee maker, crock pot, hair curler, hair dryer) that were turned into the CB (clothing bank) as we don't give out those--liability issues; usually those go to Sally Ann, but ABATE is a good group and I want to support them.

I made a Creamy Pea Salad this morning for a funeral and just arranged for it to get a ride over to Hoquiam where the church is. Planted some tomato seeds I'd germinated from a tomato I put in my salad earlier this week; sometimes I do that and then forget them, finding a yucky moldy mess when I finally remember them. So this time, I left them where I'd see them and checked them every day. No telling what kind of tomatoes I'll get from these, because it was probably a hybrid; but I don't care--I've never met a tomato I didn't like.

It's still gray and cold today, but not as rainy. In last 24 hours we had .32 inches of rain; previous 24 to that, we had 1.33 inches. Eventually, the sun will shine again, and until then we just have to tough it out in the gloom! Such is spring in coastal WA; makes one glad to have a warm, cozy home!

STILL working on clearing the kitchen table, but my half is close to done; the other half has a computer on it--that's DH's task: to take it down to the CB. It was donated to them and why it is on OUR kitchen table, just sitting there, is beyond me. I think maybe I was supposed to reacquaint myself with this IMac, but I haven't felt the urge to do that--I figure it'll all come back to me, and it may as well get used to being at the CB. I haven't yet found software that will do what we want; not even sure I know what I'm looking for, either. Sadly, I seem to be one of the folks with the most knowledge of computers among our CB workers, and that is not saying much for us. I''m no software expert.

Green Knitting, Green Monkey

This monkey is GREEN because he has been made from two mismatched, handknit wool socks. A dear lady gave us a dozen or so pairs of wool socks she'd knitted for her now-departed husband, to pass on to the clothing bank we work for and at. However, there were four stray socks, and even very destitute people like to have their socks match just like everyone else's do.

What could I do with those four socks? I could always use them for dusting and polishing, but I wanted to give them a more dignified task than that. Knowing and honoring the work that had gone into them, I wanted them to be seen, not stuffed into my ragbag.

I had made many sock monkeys, but none from handknit wool socks, and so this little guy was an experiment, as is much of what I do. I wished that there was more contrast in color between the two socks I used for him, but there wasn't, so I tried edging the "shirt" he is wearing with turquoise, and I was happy enough with the result.

This picture is a bag of yarn of various fibers, all gleaned from unknitting/frogging (rip it!) items from rummage sales/ thrift stores. It takes a little time, but can't be beat for the price, which is usually a dollar, sometimes much less than that, for each garment. I highly recommend doing this and will continue doing it myself.