Sparta - Like many children in the mid-1950s, Bonnie Connelly received a sock monkey from her grandmother. Neither Connelly nor her grandmother had any idea just what that sock monkey would start. Actually, Connelly didn’t think much about sock monkeys until 1979 when her sister’s first-born was given one by a great-aunt. The same aunt gave Connelly’s daughter, Erin, one when she was born in 1989 and, an industry was born. An artist, Connelly began writing and illustrating children’s books about her daughter’s sock monkey. Her publisher suggested a coffee table book, which seemed awfully flashy for the humble sock monkey. The title of the book Everything’s Coming Up Sock Monkeys came to Connelly in a dream but the research was very real. Connelly knew lots of people who had sock monkeys and she started contacting people which led to more people. . .and a avalanche of sock monkey data. She spent a year communicating with artists, collectors and monkey-makers. Essentially an American art-form, sock monkeys do exist in Canada with a slightly different styling, but are relatively unknown in the rest of the world. The origin of the sock monkey dates to the origin of the seamless tube sock, made possible by the invention of the knitting machine in 1872. Essentially a man’s work sock made by Nelson Mills, the sock came in utilitarian brown and blue. In 1932, Nelson added the red heel, a boon to monkey makers because it became the mouth. In 1992, Fox River Mills bought Nelson and the blue was discontinued. Creative monkey artisans bleach the brown socks for added colors, Connelly said. Sitting in her comfortable living room surrounded by monkeys, Connelly described the process. Each monkey requires one pair of socks. The first sock is the body and legs, the second, the head and arms. Those are the only rules and radical monkey-makers have abandoned the Nelson work sock for various colors, stripes, even argyles. Creative types embroider a mouth, nose and eyelashes. “Like humans, they are all made of the same material but come out differently. They are born of different creators and may resemble our inner child,” Connelly said. With the book to sell, Connelly has started doing signing and shows (including The 10 Show in Philadelphia) and discovered people not only wanted to buy the book, but a monkey as well, so she began making monkeys in quantity. She’s on the craft show circuit with books and monkeys and finds herself immersed in conversation with monkey-lovers from all over. Sewing the simple monkeys is not a challenge. The daughter of a seamstress, Connelly made her own doll clothes as a child and her own clothes as a teen as well as curtains and other items. “Monkeys are pretty elementary,” she said. The sequel to Everything’s Coming Up Sock Monkeys will be Calling All Sock Monkeys and include a sock moneky census.