Rockford Socks

In Midway Museum, Rockford, Illinois, you will find a permanent exhibition of red-mouthed sock monkeys. Guy Lochhead explores the origins of this toy, ingeniously upcycled from red-heeled socks

In 1852 a Swedish machinist named John Nelson emigrated to Rockford, Illinois to start a woodworking factory, but became distracted by the idea of a new sock-making process that didn’t leave an uncomfortable seam along the heel. In fact, he became so obsessed with the idea that, for a time, his friends worried he was mad. Fortunately, with the help of a local inventor, he finalised a design for his sock-knitting machine.

The socks proved popular with farmers and factory workers and spawned many imitations, also known as Rockfords. To set the original Rockfords apart, Nelson Knitting Co patented the iconic red heel in 1915.

During the Great Depression, impoverished American mothers would turn old Rockford socks into toy monkeys, using the red heel as the doll’s mouth. The craze grew, and in 1955, Nelson Knitting Co was awarded the patent of the monkey pattern, and began including monkey-making instructions with every pair of socks sold.

The company was bought out by Fox River Mills in 1992, who continue to produce the socks, largely unchanged but for getting rid of the toe seam that was previously turned into the monkeys’ eyebrows.

Rockfords have been worn by Albert Einstein, Ansel Adams and JFK – and New York gallery director Ron Warren is credited with having the largest collection of homemade sock monkeys, which was the subject of a book called Sock Monkeys (200 Out Of 1,863) by Arne Svenson.

Words by contributing editor Guy Lochhead

A guide to classic hats: the fedora

Allon Zloof, founder of London hat maker Tom Smarte, is your guide to choosing the perfect hat to suit your face shape and complement any ensemble. This time it's Indiana Jones' signature headpiece – the fedora

Fur and merino felt Fedora, £250 Photo: Hanson Leatherby

The word 'fedora' comes from the title of an 1882 play by Victorien Sardou, whose work popularised this style of hat when it was worn by the cross-dressing lead actress Sarah Bernhardt.The hat evolved from the very formal homburg style and became popular in the 1920s. A fedora is characterised by having a wide brim, 5-6cm, snapped down at the front and a pinched crown. It is usually made from felt as a winter hat, or from Panama straw as a summer option.

Who it suits

The fedora is very easy to wear and suits most faces, except for those with a short face shape.You should think of a hat as a way to provide symmetry and balance to your face – if the length between your eyebrows and chin is on the short side, a fedora would look too top heavy.

How to wear it

Always place a fedora from the front of your head to the back and adjust with a very slight tilt to the side. Pair a felt fedora with a trench coat, tailored suit or leather jacket (think Indiana Jones) or a Panama fedora with slim fit chinos or tailored shorts and a linen shirt.

This is a sponsored blog post, created in collaboration with Tom Smarte. For more information on partnerships and joining our directory, please email advertise@ernestjournal.co.uk.

Mateus Rosé

What do Saddam Hussein, Jimi Hendrix and The Queen have in common? It's sweet, it's fizzy and it's pink

Illustration: Louise Wyatt

Mateus Rosé, with its crazy pink colour, presented in the flask-shaped bottle we know so well, was quaffed by Jimi Hendrix and fuelled Neil Young’s On the Beach. It was found hoarded in Saddam Hussein’s palace after his fall in 2003, and is apparently one of Fidel Castro’s favourite wines. The Queen reputedly drinks it when she dines alone.

Fernando Van Zeller Guedes first produced this sweet, fizzy rosé in the 1940s from Portuguese red grape varieties that were vinificated into white wine. Guedes sent two bottles to Portuguese ambassadors across the world, inviting them to try the wine and give a bottle to a friend.

This distribution strategy really worked, and by the 1970s it was globally popular. Its sweetness and low price appealed to teens, and its exoticness was seen as sophisticated by middle-class families. And it might just be the only thing rock stars, communists, fascists, teenagers and The Queen can agree on.

Words by contributing editor Guy Lochhead

Wunderkammer of today

We invite you to explore Eastern Biological's cabinet of botanical, geological and entomological stationery, gifts and oddities to satisfy the curious 

Body Anatomy Model
This 31-piece model can be opened up to reveal the workings of the human body. £14.50

Woodcut Notecard Set
12 notecards based on the book Woodcut by Bryan Nash Gill, revealing the inner beauty of trees. £11

A Voyage of Discovery, by Alice Pattullo
4-colour screen print of Charles Darwin and his groundbreaking discoveries on the Galápagos islands in 1835. £85

Opulent Oceans
This gift set includes accounts from early naturalists and comes with 40 art prints of sea creatures. £38

Galapagos Tortoise
Pop this hand-painted chap on your desk and simply revel in the joy of his being. Made from high density plastic. £5.95

Measuring Conical
A great alternative to a measuring jug for use in the kitchen. Available in two sizes. From £7

Jungle Plates
Inject some tropical flavour into your home with these melamine plates covered in jungle print. £6

Greenhouse Pot
This concrete base and glass cover provides a perfect environment for indoor plants. Please note: plant not included. £55

Late Jurassic, by Sam Brewster
We’re enchanted by this limited edition print illustration of a Pangaean landscape teeming with Jurassic life. £85

Large Fossil Fish
Treasure your very own nugget of prehistory with this fossil of a Knightia, disovered in the Green River Formation, Wyoming. £20

Discover more about Eastern Biological in our online directory.

This is a sponsored blog post, created in collaboration with Eastern Biological. For more information on partnerships and joining our directory please email advertise@ernestjournal.co.uk.

The Helm Wind

It has swept horses to their deaths, flattened barns and spooked walkers with its eerie banshee wail – Simon Ingram tells the tale of a Cumbrian wind so infamous, it even has its own name

The Helm Cloud, image by Anita Evans

Wind is, you’d think, a rather geographically encompassing thing. So to have a particularly ferocious one inhabiting a specific locality – and noticeable enough to have its own name – is quite a thing. Britain has only one.

A few more names, to get acquainted; firstly, the place it is local to. Cross Fell, a scraped summit on the less cuddly side of Cumbria, is named either because of its aggressive conditions – as in, this is a 'cross' fell – or because a venerable saint erected a cross atop to banish demons from what was then known as Fiend’s Fell. Neither likelihood intimates a particularly cheerful venue. And the wind itself: the Helm. It’s so called because its visual hallmark – in addition to a sonic one like the wail of an express train – is a cloud that sits atop Cross Fell like a helmet, sometimes with another ‘bar’ that forms before it like a scythe.

This wind has flattened barns, turned sprouts blown from stalks into bullets and blustered sheep around yards like cotton wool. It’s killed a horse and allegedly a flattened a Norman battalion. John Ruskin described it dearly as one of ‘the plague winds of the world,’ and to this day, the Helm Wind remains erratic but present. Look our for the Helm cloud on Cross Fell – and if you’re wise or superstitious, flee. 

Learn more in Simon Ingram’s new book Between the Sunset and the Sea, published by William Collins, £18.99

Simon Ingram is an author and journalist preoccupied with the high places of Britain. He is the editor of Trail, the UK's best-selling hillwalking magazine