Terrifying Sock Monkeys

In Joss Whedon's TV show "Firefly," there is a scene in which Captain Malcolm Reynolds finds the engine room in a terrible mess. He hunts down mechanic Kaylee Frye and says to her, "Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?" Some Terrifying Space (Sock) Monkeys are loose in my life. It began innocently enough in 2009, with the "Mr. Foster Sock Monkey Kit" from Knit Picks. I intended the monkey to be a gift for my not-yet-arrived first grandchild. But after I finished it, several months before Nermal the World's Cutest Grandson arrived, said monkey discovered a small decorative sombrero that was the perfect size for his head. He put it on, and Senor Foster was born. I gave him a pencil mustache, and things sort of took off from there.

He asked for a companion, so I knitted Chiquita Chihuahua for him. (What else would a monkey call his pet?) He discovered the joy of traveling, and accompanied us on several road trips.

While Chiquita is a great companion, it wasn't long until Senor Foster started hinting that he'd really like a lady friend. I wanted to design my own monkey pattern so I could sell the finished monkeys, and I came up with a decidedly female monkey. Mimi LaTour swept Senor Foster off his feet ... and off to the Banana Cabana, which serves Banana Margeritas and Fancy Drinks with Tiny Paper Umbrellas. I didn't see them again for days.

Senor Foster and Mimi were so busy with each other that I felt I had to knit another monkey. The pattern for Mimi was a bit complicated, so once again I designed a new pattern. I chose locally available yarn in hopes of teaching a Sock Monkey class, but alas, my Local Yarn Shop closed before I could get anything set up. However, I now had Marvin to keep me company on road trips and get into Monkey Mischief whenever possible.

In fact, Marvin enjoys traveling so much that he hitched a ride with my husband on a business trip to Seattle, where he flirted with girls and hung out at the top of the Space Needle. I'm still jealous ....

In order to prevent this from happening again, I knitted said husband a sock monkey of his own for Christmas. Melvin the Geek Monkey lives on his desk at work. I didn't get photos before he moved in there, but he came equipped with Proper Work Clothes as well as jeans and a Hawaiian shirt for Casual Fridays.

I wrote a pattern for a Pocket Monkey, a smaller version of Marvin, for my husband's co-worker, the guy who was embarrassed by the idea of carrying such a thing on a trip. I used that pattern with heavier yarn to finally knit Nermal his very own monkey.

The sock monkey bug took an interesting turn in the meantime, branching out into Commercially Available Monkeys, starting with Jack, an honest-to-goodness Rockford Red Heel Sock Monkey. He and Marvin got into mischief on a trip last spring.

Mad Max is a small but Terrifying pocket-sized sock monkey, sometimes armed with a ray gun. He has his own Micro Monkey, and protects him fiercely:

Mad Max is demanding that I knit him his very own space suit so he can help Fred, Jack's larger brother, defend the travel trailer, which we have named Serenity. Fred calls his ray gun "Vera."