How did sock monkeys come about?

Belang and I were pondering some how sock monkeys came about. Here's how he looked like deep in thought. We found out that it was a big thing in the 1900s in the States.

Smallest sock monkey that I have seen online is 3 inches tall. And this person must have the largest that I have come across so far and he's called Buttons. Amazing how huge he is. Go take a look.

What's this sudden fascination with sock monkeys you may ask? I have no idea. I guess I am just amazed how you can get a monkey (or elephant) from a pair of socks. Like WOW!

So we decided to go our separate ways to come up with some answers. I googled some and found:

Sock dolls were popular around the 1900's. The Nelson Knitting Mills in Rockford Illinois first made the original rockford red heeled sock in 1890. In 1920 the mill soon began packaging the directions for the sock monkeys with each pair of socks after a customer fashioned a doll and sent it to the company. The Nelson Knitting Mills was purchased by Fox River Mills in the 1992 and now Fox River makes the Red Heel Monkey Sock.

And what did Belang do? He decided to do some yoga and hopefully will get some answers to the meaning of life for them sock monkeys.