Remember the sock monkey?

It's really a dumb toy to me until I chanced upon it during my visit to Rockford today.

I tagged along with M and his colleague who are on a business trip to the Register Star. Having a few hours to kill, I drove around the downtown, which is in the midst of revitalization (read, empty shopfronts and a few hip restaurants), and chanced upon the visitors' center. I found some typical tourist brochures and found a tourist spot that looked interesting. The Tinker Swiss Cottage. Sounds delightful, doesn't it? It is. .

For a mere $5, I was treated to a personalized tour by a very capable docent. While I was signing the guest book, I caught sight of the sock monkey and thought it was peculiar. Does it have a Swiss connection? Then I looked around the shop/reception, and realized a few other country-like knick knacks, and I thought it was just part of the country craft souvenirs.

As we started the tour, the docent pointed to a row of factory next to the cottage - the Nelson Knitting Company. It is here in that factory that some ladies created the sock monkey. How freaky cool is that? I was told that these days, the sock monkey cannot be bought as a whole toy unless a bunch of ladies, mostly from churches or retirement homes, decide to make them. But if you feel nostalgic for one, here's where you can get them. And did you know why the ladies at the knitting factory create the monkey? Here's a trivia: they thought the red heel looked like a mouth!

The tour of the Tinker Swiss Cottage is nothing short of remarkable. But this really is not the blog for it. If you are an interior design and architecture buff, you'd be be blown away by the history, and the detail to attention. The trompe l'oeil restoration is a sight to behold.

Rockford is a river town, and is not a town to brag about. But in these few short hours, I had the chance to see the cottage, and also the art museum. Now, I am not an art aficionado and certainly cannot dissect art. I was drawn to it by the lightpost banners promoting His and Hers, a pair of Sweden glass artists' exhibitions. Glass, that is a medium I am a sucker for. When I got there, this unemployed patron was thrilled to find that it's free day at the museum!

The sandblasted glass work by him was surreal but well executed. Lots of phallic imagery. Not my cup of tea. Hers was more user- and homeowner-friendly, but still quite suggestive. Why are artists so tortured sexually?

Sidenote: there was a artisan chocolate store near the paper. I peeked in and was given a detailed description of each truffle. Interesting combination but each little 2-inch square of truffle is $2.50! That's half the admission of the cottage tour. No thank you! I'm no sucker!