Love me some Sock Monkey Pirates!

I was looking through pictures of sock monkeys I've made and realized that some of my favorite sock monkeys are pirates!

 Scurvy Sam

Barnacle Bob

 

Jolly Jim Dugan

Billy Black Heart

Bad Billy Blart

 

See what I mean? They're just too darn cute, but don't tell them that. They hate being called cute!

Merry Christmas from Sock Monkey Ranch

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas from Miss Millie, Dusty, Lucky, Tumbleweed, Betsy, Skippy, Mike, Molly, Lenny Longtail and Little Bit.

 

and a blessed Holiday Season from Grandma Jan!

 

Miss Amelia visits Germany

Recently received a picture from Miss Amelia who was visiting Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany. She's just as pretty as a flower and has obviously adapted well to her life with the Thomas family!  Thanks for sharing her travels with us.

 

 

America's Next Top Model?

Sock Monkey Ranch had some very special visitors today, but because of a confidentiality agreement, we are unable to give you names.  Let's just say someone who wasn't Tyra Banks...but looked a lot like her, and someone with a camera who wasn't Nigel Barker, but looked a lot like him stopped by for lemonade on the veranda.

We were all havin' a pleasant visit when the Nigel look-alike  started making this little square thing with his hands and looking at Miss Millie real funny.  Then he asked her if he could "shoot" her.

Well, Miss Millie, being the cowgirl that she is was ready to draw down on him in the middle of the street until he explained that he meant take her picture.

They had lots of fun with different poses, and Ms. Not Tyra Banks selected her favorite pictures from all Miss Millie's frames (that's photography/model talk). She said Miss Millie had "fierce eyes" in this picture.

 Miss Millie is not going to be signed by the top modeling agency in New York, nor will she win a photo layout in Cover Girl, but we're mighty proud of our Sock Monkey Ranch Top Model.

You are unique!

We all come in different shapes and colors, but we're all simply adorable.
(And I'm not just talkin' about monkeys!)

God made each one of us special. Celebrate your uniqueness!

Sock Monkeys in Italy!

McKenna and Kaitlyn live in Germany with their parents. Dad is in the military so these lucky girls get to travel to wonderful places. Of course, they take their Sock Monkey Ranch monkeys (Juliet and Baily) with them.
Juliet's favorite sight was the statue of Juliet in Verona. While there she quoted the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet - playing both parts! And she seemed to be on a constant look out for a Romeo of her very own.

Bailey loved the Tower of Pisa. (Except she thought it was the Tower of Pizza and was just a little bit discouraged because she was very hungry.)

Thanks so much for sharing these pictures with us, girls. It's always fun to get to know our monkeys' new people and hear about their adventures after leaving the ranch.
 

Seeing Double?

Folks around Sock Monkey Ranch have been seeing double lately.

Miss Mollie                              Miss Millie

I'd like you to meet Miss Mollie (on the left), Miss Millie's little sister. (That's Miss Millie on the right.)

They look so much alike that sometimes they're mistaken for twins. One big difference, however that Miss Mollie has a sweet tooth. Heck, she has a whole mouthful of them, which is why she's insisting on carrying a bag of sugar wherever she goes...weird, huh?

After a brief visit, Miss Mollie was off to live in San Jose, CA with Catherine, who promised to keep her sugar intake under control.

We'll miss that sweet little gal!

Hiking Sodona

Cletus Dean Baker (AKA Tumbleweed) hiked the West Fork Trail in Sodona yesterday.   (I got to go along as his photographer.) What a beautiful place...we've got to go back and do it again, soon! Maybe next time he'll let me be in some of the pictures.

 

Lucille Ball and Vitameatavegamin

Ok, I've been dying to post my latest sock monkey on the blog, but I had to wait because a friend custom ordered it for his wife's birthday and I was afraid she might see it.

He wanted a Lucille Ball sock monkey.

Front View



Back view (add a bow to her tail later)



Her cute little hat.

Vitameatavegamin - I used a Watkins vanilla bottle
and filled it with Coke, then made a cool label .

I included a spoon for tasting.



This was one of the most challenging sock monkeys I've made yet, but she was a lot of fun.

Oh, and...HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JUDY!

Like Jigsaw Puzzles?

I love to do jigsaw puzzles with my Mom, so I thought it would be fun to make some online puzzles from my sock monkey photos for everyone to play.  Click the puzzle below to access the page with all the puzzles.  Have fun!

An Evening at the Ranch

Tonight we all kicked back to watch the National Finals Rodeo.  I was just takin' a sip of my soda when out of the corner of my eye, I spied Dusty slip his hand behind Tumbleweed's back and take hold of Miss Millie's hand.

Millie and Dusty holding hands?

I fully expected her to throw a hissy fit, but much to my surprise, she blushed slightly and kept her little hand in his!

Is romance blossoming at Sock Monkey Ranch???

You can sneak a peek into Miss Millie's diary and Dusty's journal to see what they wrote about this evening...very interesting!

Missionary Monkey writes Home

This must be the week for hearing from monkeys that have moved on from Sock Monkey Ranch. This week I received an email from Max (see earlier post) and from Precious, our little Missionary Monkey.

 

Precious is currently on the mission field in Malawi, Africa. She's been gone about 3 weeks and already she's visited orphanages, village churches, hundreds of miles of gorgeous tea, coffee, tobacco, and banana plantations. She loves the little thatched roofed African villages and says the people are so friendly, they make you feel like an honored guest.

She also took a speedboat upriver to Lilonde National Park and said they passed right thru big herds of hippos in the water and crocs everywhere.

She will also see Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland, Durbin, So. Africa and finally
Johannesburg before she flies home the first week of December. She's looking forward to seeing Victoria Falls and spend a couple days in Kruger Game Park.

We're praying for a safe return from the mission field for both Precious and her human escorts.

We love hearing from our monkeys, so if you are one, or you have adopted one...please...write home! (and send pics if you can)

I knew it was gonna happen!

I got an email from Max yesterday.  Max left Sock Monkey Ranch about a year ago for his new home in Maryland.  I was just a bit worried about Max, because he tends make the wrong kind of friends everywhere he goes.  I was right to be worried!

Here's a pic he sent me of his new "friends". (That's Max in the middle with the ipod)

 

As you can see, they seem like a no-account bunch of hooligans. Sure enough, the next picture I received was this one...with a request for bail money!

Miss Millie's Fashion Makeover

Miss Millie went shopping over at Etsy.com this week and came home sportin' this classy new cowgirl outfit. I wish you'd been here when Dusty got his first look at her in her new get-up. His jaw dropped clear down to his kneecaps!

 

Miss Millie said she found her outfit in Stitchgir52's shop. Pop on over there and take a look at her wonderful fashions and don't forget to tell her that Miss Millie sent ya.

I just gave birth to a Doctor!

This little guy is a special order for a baby whose mom and dad are both ER doctors.  I was so tickled with the way he turned out that I just had to show him off.

His name is Dr. Munkee!

Many Mini Monkeys

This is what I did today...made many mini monkeys!  They're each about 6 inches tall, have glass bead eyes and cute little clothes.  These little cuties will be for sale at the Skunk Creek Community Market this Saturday, then they may turn up in my Etsy shop.

Sock Monkey Sisters

My good friend, Barb is going to Africa for 6 weeks to help out in the mission field, so we decided to get together for breakfast before she leaves.  Another good friend, Nancy, noticed that I had "lost my joy" and decided to show up with red hats and purple boas and take me to lunch.  We decided that three sounds almost like a party, so we all met at Cracker Barrel, along with a purple sock monkey in full Red Hat Ragalia.

Barb (left), Nancy (middle) and me (right) and our sock monkey friend.

We haven't named the monkey yet, but Barb is going to take her to Africa where the monkey will be given her Christian name.  I'll be posting pics that Barb takes in Africa and let you know our little friend's new name as soon as I know it.

I had so much fun this morning, I decided I'm tired of feeling blue....from now on, I'm going PURPLE!

Heather in the Bottle Brush Tree

A couple of weeks ago Heather left Sock Monkey Ranch for her new home in Australia. I always love it when the monkeys "write home". Here's a bit of Heather's note to us at the Ranch.

Dear Miss Millie and all the Ranch Staff,

I have settled in nicely to my new home. It's a beautiful 3 acre lot with many different types of trees that are native to Australia. My new family took me for a walk in the gardens today and I"ve decided that the Bottle Brush Tree is my very favorite.

 

 

I have not seen any Kangaroos or Wallabys yet, but when I'm indoors I like to sit in the window and keep a watch out for them.  I hope all is well at Sock Monkey Ranch and that Lucky and Dusty are learning how to get along.

Miss you all,
Heather
Morpeth, Australia

I would love to hear from other monkeys who have left the Ranch...please, write.

A Bunch of Monkeys!

We're coming up on our 80th sock monkey born at Sock Monkey Ranch in our first year.  That seems incredible.  A year ago I had never made a sock monkey!  My goal is 100 monkeys in 2007.

Pictures of most of the monkeys I've made can be found in the Sock Monkey Ranch Gallery.  Pop on over and have a look.  If you see one you like, let me know.  All of our sock monkeys are one of a kind, but I can make you one that's similar to your favorite.    I'd love to make a monkey for you!

Just some of the monkeys found in the Sock Monkey Ranch Gallery.

Come on over and take a look.

Another SMR Cowboy

Another cute cowboy was born at the ranch today:

This is Brody.  He loves horses, cows, wide open ranges.  His favorite thing to have for breakfast is flapjacks with peanut butter.  Brody also likes to camp out under the stars and wants to learn how to play the guitar so he can sing around the campfire.

Brody is already on his way to Oklahoma to be best friends with 9 month old Gaige.