Monkey business becomes a second career

She left her stressful job to devote time to making homespun dolls.
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
STONE LAKE, Wis. -- Trademark red lips make them sassy, yet sweet. Fashioned from the socks of working men, the homemade toys speak of frugal times and childhood traditions.
"Sock monkey dolls make everyone smile," said Dee Lindner, who is known as the Sock Monkey Lady. "They are sassy, they are sweet and sometimes even silly. They can brighten anyone's day in a moment."
Lindner, 51, makes and sells old-fashioned sock monkeys using the same red-heeled work socks used to craft the homemade dolls 60 to 70 years ago. Her whimsical photos of sock monkeys, dressed and posed, appear on handmade greeting cards.
Her hobby, started in 1989, has blossomed into a growing home-based business in Stone Lake, Wis. Her images are featured in "Monkey Love," her new gift book, and in a new collection of Valentine fun packs from Peaceable Kingdom Press. Lindner also sells kits for those who want to make the homespun dolls from the durable brown-and cream-colored socks.
Good luck charm
Lindner's love affair with sock monkeys began 16 years ago as she and her husband, Gary, were about to close on their first house in the Chicago area. They saw a vintage sock monkey in an antique store's window and bought it for good luck.
More vintage sock monkeys followed. "She had to have playmates," explained Lindner, whose collection fills a wall of shelves in her studio.
"Each one was made by somebody for somebody," she said. "During the Depression, it may have been loved and cherished, then passed down though generations. There's a whole story behind each and every sock monkey doll. That's what keeps me enthused. That's what I like about them."
Out of curiosity, Lindner began making sock monkeys. Then she started dressing and posing the dolls to make greeting cards for family and friends.
Make a move
In the mid-1990s, the Lindners left their stressful jobs in the corporate world and moved to rural Wisconsin, where Lindner was born.
"We cashed in to work with our hobbies," Lindner said.
A few years ago, Gary encouraged her to sell her cards through gift shops. She approached Art Beat in Hayward, Minn., where the cards and sock monkey dolls were an instant hit.
"Her images have a universal appeal," said shop owner Deanna Persson. "They're very popular. They're wholesome and healthy and happy. We have a lot of repeat customers who keep coming back for more."
Word spread. More shops followed. People asked Lindner to make dolls.
"My sights and expectations were quite small," she said. "I thought I'd go to three shops, and it would pay for the hobby."
In the past two years, her business has taken off. A Web site was created. The business was incorporated. Her greeting cards, sock monkeys and other items are in dozens of gift shops, museums and galleries in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Illinois, Oklahoma, Washington, Florida and the Caribbean.
Personally involved
Despite her success, Lindner is determined to keep her business home-based, preferring to craft her wares herself. Instead of spending a couple of hours a day on her hobby, she works eight to 12 hours a day. A standard 20-inch sock monkey takes her at least 2 hours to make and sells for $34.95. Her super-sized dolls, 5 foot 6 inches or taller, take days to make and sell for several hundred dollars.
"I'm only one person -- at a certain point, I'll have to say 'no,'" she said.
Until then, Lindner delights in her dolls and her photos.
"I can still be creative," she said. "I'm doing what I love to do. This is more about fun. This is a dream come true for a hobby."