It looks like she's making chicken arms, but they're actually monkey arms.
Normally, I make mohawks with super bulky yarn and tie it directly to the hat. However, I did not have any super bulky red yarn and when I started tying worsted weight on, I realized very quickly it wouldn't look right. I thought and thought and finally decided I would learn loop stitch to make the mohawk. Then I learned that I hold my yarn way differently than any of the tutorials I found online and I had to adapt it to my weirdo way of doing things. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but once I did, it was kind of fun. I need to work on longer loops, but it works fine here.
I also tried stuffing the mouth this time. The way I make the mouth lends quite well to poofing it out like that, so it made me very happy. I also made the mouth one peice... before I've made a tan mouth with a smaller red one sewn on top. I like it as just one piece better. It's more true to a real sock monkey... and that's what I'm going for. A lot of sock monkey hats don't look very sock monkey-ish to me. And I'm very dedicated to being as true a real sock monkey as possible. I don't even like sock monkeys made out of socks other than Rockford Red Heels. I can't help it, I'm a sock monkey purist. ;) I also did the ears differently. I hate making ears and what I tried this time was so much easier. They could stand to be just a tad bigger, but that's OK.
She's an angry monkey.
I'm very happy with my Punky Monkey. Next will be the Pirate Monkey. I might have two versions of that itself. The twins that are getting these hats are having a pirate themed party, so I'm thinking maybe two different Pirate Monkeys are in order. Stay tuned....
Tutorial for Basic Sock Monkey here
Tutorial for Mowhawk variation here and here
Shamelessly self-promoting here:
Tutorial for Basic Sock Monkey here
Tutorial for Mowhawk variation here and here
Shamelessly self-promoting here:
Very cute! I'm also a huge sock monkey fan and I like the Rockford Red Heel ones best. I actually just got the guts to make my first one over the weekend! I totally need to get a hat like this for my little man once he's born!
ReplyDeletethat is so stinkin' cute! My mother-in-law knitted my son a sock monkey hat last winter. I am very much in love with sock monkeys. I understand being a purist. I agree with you.
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