Monkey Socks

Day 155: Not that I'd ever cut into a pair of hand-knit socks to make a sock monkey, but whenever I knit socks with differently-coloured cuffs, heels and toes, I am reminded of the old "Red Heel" brand work socks and the sock monkeys my grandmother used to make. She never made one for me, quite possibly because the only book I ever damaged as a child was one which depicted baby animals. I was fine with the rest of the book, but the last page was baby monkeys. I tore it out. My mother diligently repaired it with scotch tape and gave it back to me. I tore the page out again, ripped it in two and threw the pieces on the floor. Again, my mother taped the page back together and put it back in the book. She didn't even try to repair it after the third "accident" when I shredded the single page into tiny pieces and stuffed them down behind the mattress of my crib. She got the message: I didn't like monkeys. Nor do I like babies. Still, I have to admit that sock monkeys have a certain creepy charm about them, and although I've never made one, if I could get my hands on Red Heel socks and the pattern, I have a couple of friends who would be happy to adopt. But I am not going to knit monkey socks just to make a monkey of myself by cutting them up.