For years my mother had a knitting pattern for Gonks. The Gonk family - Grandma Gonk, Mum Gonk, Dad Gonk, Gone Gonk, Geoffrey Gonk, Gloria Gonk, the Twin Gonks and Baby Gonk. Here's the story published with them:

"I'm Gone Gonk. Have you gone gonk . . . ? Everybody's going gonk. As gonks go, I'm 9½ inches high and have a Beatle fringe to keep the sun out of my eyes. Dad took us to Gonknor Regis for the day. It was a lovely day. Gran wore her best fronk and sat in a deckchair knitting, and Gloria wore her new bikini and tried to get brown. Geoffrey got so red he had to hide under Gran's chair for shade; the twins made millions of sandpies. Baby just gonked. As for me, it all went to my head. We love going to the seaside - it's gonkshious - why don't you make us and take us with you on your holiday this year?"

My mother, a wonderful knitter, made the Gonks for grandchildren. I attach a photo of the ones she made.

The pattern's a bit of a treasure in our family and I'd like to put it up online in case anyone else ever wants to make them. There are a few links to this Gonk family already on the internet, but not many, so I'm adding to the Gonks little history record and trying to keep them alive. Attached are the pictures, story and knitting pattern.

Oh, I should add there isn't actually a Mum Gonk in the original knitting pattern. My mother made her up using the grandma as a template.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2020 01:19AM by J1.

I think they are wonderful. I wish that I was a knitter.

How lovely. Children would really like the gonks. So much nicer than plasticky stuff. I would be tempted to make those if I could knit and had grandchildren.

Gosh that brings back memories J1. My only grandchild is now 25 so I don’t think she would get too excited if I made one for her. Although I knitted her a Po Teletubby which she adored. Alas, I wonder where he/she is now!

How lovely of you to share.

Thanks for your comments. Thanks to my mother passing on a few of her knitting tips, I've knitted a few successful jerseys and soft toys myself in the past. But once I did have a large, rotund knitting failure. After having the Gonk family in our presence for awhile, for some reason I decided to knit a Baby Gonk myself but chose the wrong wool and probably the wrong knitting needles and when I came to stuff him he grew and grew and grew, with each stitch stretching it's little heart out. He lasted as the overeater of the family for decades until one day the soft toy box had a cull.....

As a further note, I also used to crochet, something my mother didn't do, but what mum did do back in the 1970s was subscribe to a wonderful UK craft magazine called Golden Hands which was absolutely brilliant at explaining how to knit, crochet, sew, and other needlecraft. I learnt all my crochet from it and made some of the items they featured. I still have the Golden Hands set because it's such a treasure. I see you can buy them as a pdf these days [www.ebay.co.uk] which is great because they deserve to be still around.

They are great JI imagine having the complete set what fun. I too remember the Golden Books did have some. Thanks for sharing a great memory.

They're so cute J1 - wish I was a knitter too. Thanks for posting

Oh gosh, they bring back memories. We had various knitted toys.
My knitting skills are very basic but I did used to crochet.
Like yours J1, mum subscribed to Golden Hands.

We started knitting here a year or so ago as Daisy was making woollen singlets for prem babies at Middlemore hospital.
Sadly the knitting stopped when the school project did.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2020 10:36PM by helen.

Hello I wanted to say this is such a find for me A memory from 50 plus years ago when I was small of a gonk at home that mum knitted for dad popped into my head 2 days ago - it's strange but I could picture this gonk so vividly I searched google and found this link. It's unbelievable. I recognise the gonk at home must have been the twin boy. Mum had knitted him yellow with green stripped bottoms. I wish I could knit like my mum, she has always been kind calm and lovely to us 6 children, and it showed in her perfectly beautiful knitting. Great too that she knitted whatever we asked for as we got older - big jumpers with pictures on, bat wings, summer tops, blue sparkly cardigan (that was mum's but she let me wear it when 17 on a grown up night out). I feel so happy right now and thank you very much for being so generous to share. I could say I will attempt to knit a gonk but know I will leave it unfinished after the first few rows - perhaps I'll ask my daughter who must have inherited mum's patience.

What lovely memories, Dawn, even makes me smile. Thanks for sharing

Yes, that's lovely to hear, DawnH, thanks for commenting. Like your mum, my mum knitted heaps of jerseys and other types of tops for us as we grew up and I even had a sparkly top except mine was cream-coloured. Sometimes we'd come home from school and she had lined up on our beds all the tops she'd been secretly knitting for us over the last few months. Big hugs to mum!

J1.... thanks for sharing another lovely mum story. My mum is in her last few days/weeks with motor neurone disease, and I'm acutely aware right now of the roles mums play in our lives, even as adults.

Hi Jenna, sending you big hugs and love. I don't think we ever get over the grief of losing our mums...we just learn to live with it.

So sorry to hear that, Jenna. Kia kaha.

I have 2 small granddaughters who love soft toys and I decided I would try to knit them something during our continuing pandemic lockdown here in the UK. I remembered my Grandmother knitting myself and my sister Gonks in the early 60s and put in a search for a pattern. I couldn't believe it when I found this site and was thrilled when I opened the picture of the Gonk family to see Dad Gonk which was identical to the one that I had. My Grandmother obviously had exactly the same pattern. I am now half way through knitting Geoffrey and then I will decide which one to knit next. Thank you J1 for sharing this pattern. It has taken me back 60 years.
I'm really only a basic knitter but they are quite easy to knit. My main problem has been sourcing wool as the craft shops are closed here but I managed to find most of the wool in my knitting bag and only had to buy one ball over the Internet. It's certainly helping to pass some snowy days and giving me some happy memories.
Thanks

Priscilla, it's fantastic to hear from you and I'm so glad the Gonks and their patterns have enabled you to recall your memories and start some new ones for your grandchildren. It must have been wonderful to recognise Dad Gonk. I'm so grateful to my mum for keeping the pattern all these years and I'm hoping to pass it on to my granddaughter. I agree, they're easier to knit than they might seem. All the best for your Gonk knitting. Best wishes also for a happy and safe future from the travails of Covid19.

J1
Thanks for your message. I visited my 82 year old sister today and she too remembers the gonks and says that our Grandmother knitted her 2 - despite her being about 20 at the time. She's now waiting to see my finished results and I may even knit her one. I've nearly finished Geoffrey and have decided that I will knit an additional 2 for my other Granddaughters who live in France and who we sadly are unable to visit at the moment.
Best wishes across the world - the internet is sometimes amazing.