Knitting Dragonflies

  Well I’ve become somewhat obsessed with sock monkeys! It seems that people have definite opinions on them, similar to clowns, love or hate them. So it all starts with a pair of socks $4.95 from WalMart. After making a couple for gifts for my niece and nephew. The mania began. The traditional sock monkeys that we think of were made with a specific sock, the  Rockford Red Heel Socks . John Nelson, a Swedish immigrant to the United States, patented the sock-knitting machine in 1869, and began manufacturing work socks in Rockford, Illinois in 1890. During the Great Depression, American mothers first made sock monkeys out of worn-out Rockford Red Heel Socks. Sometime around 1951 Nelson Knitting company discovered that their socks were being used to make monkey dolls, this resulted in a dispute over the pattern. The company was awarded the pattern in l955 and started including it with every pair of socks. In 1992 the Nelson company was acquired by Fox River Mills.  A  change in the re