12 Monkeys! Celebrating My Favorite Free Sock Knitting Pattern

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I feel like modern knitting history can be divided into two eras: Before Ravelry and After Ravelry. I’m here to tell you a little story about the Before Days…

It was 2006. The internet was raging about Pluto getting stripped of its planet status and we had this new thing called Twitter where we could go complain about it. It was also the year that one of the most iconic issues of Knitty was released: the Winter 2006 issue. Back then, knitters hung out on a site called Craftser and two patterns made a huge splash in the knitting forums: Sheldon and Monkey. Both of these patterns have played pivotal roles in my knitting journey, but for now, we’re just going to talk about Cookie A’s Monkey Socks because, as it turns out, I just finished knitting my 12th pair!

My Original Sock Knitting Inspiration

The Monkey pattern is special to me because it is the pattern that inspired me to learn how to knit socks. (Those pattern photos also inspired me to wear handknit socks with chunky-heel Mary Janes, but it turns out that I could not pull that look off).

Not only had I never knitted socks before, but I had never used fingering weight yarn or knitted with needles smaller than size 6. Knitty had rated the pattern “tangy” in their patented difficulty-level rating scale, so I didn’t feel ready to cast on, but I immediately went to the store and bought a book called “Knit Socks”… and the rest is history.

I finally felt tangy enough to knit lace about 4 years later, and I haven’t been able to stop knitting Monkey Socks ever since! BTW, if you are curious, my 12 pairs of Monkey Socks make up 0.05% of all 23.1K Monkeys recorded on Ravelry. (Nothing like a little data to make yourself feel small.)

Why Have I Knitted This Sock Pattern 12 Times?

A while back, I wrote a blog post about why I like the Monkey Sock pattern and shared four popular variations on the design. In short, I love this pattern because it is so easy to memorize. It’s also easy to “read” the lace in your knitting, meaning you don’t need to tote around the chart or use a row counter to keep your place. You can just look at your knitting and figure out what row you are on by counting the stitches.

Monkey is a free pattern: you can check it out in that original issue of Knitty or there is a version available on Interweave’s website. The Interweave version is a rewrite that was featured on Knitting Daily. It’s the same pattern but it features instructions for a larger CO 80 version in addition to the original CO 64. Monkey is also in Cookie A’s Knit. Sock. Love. book. The book is out of print, but you can sometimes find it on eBay.

The Best Yarn to Use for Monkey Socks

The Monkey Pattern works with many yarn styles, but my favorite yarn for Monkeys is a tonal colorway. This pair uses sock yarn from my favorite indie dyer, Gina, from Global Backyard. I love her tonals – they are super low contrast, which means there is just enough color shifting to provide depth but not so much that it detracts from the lace. Here’s a closeup of the beautiful dye work:

If you are curious to see more Monkey action, here is a link to all the Monkey Socks posts on this blog. And here’s a fun fact to bring the history-lesson theme full circle: I started this blog in the Before Days as a place to store my project notes and photos and stuff. When I started using Ravelry, the blog wasn’t really necessary anymore, but I think it’s kind of fun, so I’m still here.

Now, for those project notes…

yarn details

Global Backyard Sock Yarn in Desert Sunset
Fingering Weight
85% Superwash Merino Wool, 15% Nylon
Machine Wash Cold and Dry Flat
100 g/437 yd skein
Purchased in November 2022

project details

pattern: “Monkey” by Cookie A (links in post above)
size knit: CO 64
needles: US size 1 (2.25 mm), nickel-plated fixed circular needles (magic loop, baby!)
gauge: 15.5 stitches & 26 rows over 2 inches in Stockinette (blocked)
yarn used: 346 yards (79 grams)
finished size: Back of heel to tip of toe: 8.5”, Top of cuff to bottom of heel flap: 8.75″, Leg diameter: 3.5” (Blocked)
duration: February – May, 2023