The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday November 21, 2007 - 19 Fall fair fun fundraises for home and abroad Continued from page 18 ready to sell at this year's fall fair. So three of us took a one-day course at a quilt shop in downtown Oakville and well, we just fell in love with the monkeys," explained Warren. "Our hope was to entice some of the other members into making monkeys with us and hopefully we would get a dozen or so made. Well, at last count we had 61 of them made and yes we did get others to help in the making of monkeys," said Warren. The cuddly cuties will all come with birth certificates and will be named. Each monkey is different. Some are dressed and others are more daringly, not. Each monkey takes between three to six hours to make -- not including the making of their clothes. "The monkeys are only a small part of the items for sale at the fair. We will have baked goods, crafts, silent auction, attic treasures, jewellery and a tea room... something for everyone," said Warren. "The monkeys are only a small part of the items for sale at the fair." Ardyce Warren A sock monkey is a stuffed toy made from socks and fashioned in the likeness of a monkey. And sock monkeys hold an important place in the culture of North America as a symbol of ingenuity. The genesis of the sock monkey came about when the craze of stuffed animals swept across Europe and then into America, where it met the arts and crafts movement. Moms began sewing sock monkeys as toys for their children, and sock monkeys soon became a fixture in American nurseries. The iconic sock monkeys made from Red-Heel socks emerged at the earliest in 1932, the year the Nelson Knitting Company of Rockford, Illinois added the trademarked RedHeel seamless work socks. Around 1951 the knitting company discovered their socks were being used to make monkey dolls and in the mid-1950s was awarded the patent on the design pattern and then began including the pattern with every pair of socks. Sock monkeys remain a popular toy. Most vintage sock monkeys are dated circa 1950 with many others made in the 1970s. Numerous methods for dating sock monkeys have been debated by collectors, but since sock monkeys are homemade rather than mass-manufactured, it's difficult to date them. Sock monkeys have enjoyed a new growth in popularity with more variety in designs, and synthetic materials have replaced the old rags, pantyhose, cotton batting and even dried grain once used for their stuffing. Rockford, Illinois embraced the doll as a part of its history and in 2005 the first Sock Monkey Madness Festival was held at Rockford's Midway Village and Museum Center. It has become an annual event. DOC+OR IN THE HOUSE? IS THERE A The Oakville Beaver DIVISION OF METROLAND MEDIA GROUP LTD. H1251764 Pamper Yourself Here With A Free Trial Stay There's no better way to experience our hotel-style services. Discover a community of adults who don't want to act retired. Call Margaret Milley for all the trial stay details. Schools, Churches, Clubs Pick up your FREE COPIES of SONGBOOK PG 1 11/12/07 5:29 PM Page 1 905-469-3232 www.delmanor.com Or drop by 1459 Nottinghill Gate (just west of Dorval, south of Upper Middle) Proud recipient of the 2006/2007 Oakville Beaver Readers Choice Award for Retirement Community 633 · 905.257.3 UPTOWN 1 Oak Park Blvd. .338.3737 105-23 WN · 905 t 267 MIDTO th Service Road Wes 251 Nor · 905.845.4 N DOWNTOW shore Road East Lake 326 32 pages of Christmas at the Oakville Beaver office, 467 Speers Rd.