We all know about sock-hungry dryers. Well, I believe drawers are sock-eaters, too. Somehow socks go into dresser drawers in pairs but come out as singles, forever abandoning the sacred union. We started a special box of single socks a few months ago and decided it was high time we searched the house for all socks to take a full tally of the situation.
- Sorting Socks is Sorta Fun. Photo © Liesl Clark
It was the perfect task for a 7 year old, searching through every drawer in the house and coming up with nearly 100 single socks! The laundry room coughed up a few more. Then, we got to work with our matching game. Thirty pair were reunited! But sadly, about 40 odd socks now have no mate. What to do?
I’m vowing to have a moratorium on sock-buying for at least a year, or until our dryer and drawers have consumed them all. This family has way too many socks. In the meantime here’s a list of what we’re doing with our 40 odd socks:
1) A few special unions have been created, and we look forward to showing them off at school as soon as possible.
2) I put one in the freezer to use over our ice pack. It’ll protect a child’s skin against that cold pack.
3) The 7-year-old, has her sights set on a few sock creatures, like this adorable sock hippo named “Emma” that she made the other day.
4) I invented a new type of yarn, like T-shirt yarn, but it’s….Sock Yarn! This stuff is easy and kinda cool to make.
First, find a single sock and cut strips into it without fully reaching the edge. A great photo that explains it in a tutorial for T-shirt yarn is here. You’ll then cut diagonally, linking the strips together in a spiral cut. It’s easy!
Then stretch your sock yarn out so it curls in on itself:
You might attract a feline in the process. Sock yarn makes an excellent cat play toy.
Roll your yarn into a ball and you’re done!
- Sock Yarn. Try It. Photo © Liesl Clark
5) A travel utensil holder is a sock reuse I’ve been meaning to do. Now it’s done.
Just use a piece of your sock yarn to tie it shut.
Socks make excellent pencil holders too, just use an extra thick sock.
6) I saved a few socks for our rag basket, for dusting and other fine-rubbing I might need to do on furniture or countertops.
7) Cut the toe section out and use your sock tube as a travel coffee mug cozy.
My Favorite Sock Reuse: Travel Coffee Mug Cozy © Liesl Clark
8) The rest went back into the super duper sock box under the bed in waiting for sock sorting day next year when I vow yet again to never buy new socks and then learn how to darn the odd ones that remain. Actually, each week on laundry day we take the single socks and open up the box to see if the missing mates are inside. I have the box sorted by color, darks to lights, so the task goes quickly:
Can you believe how many unmatched socks we have?
Do you combine unmatched socks, in an effort to stave off buying yet another pair? Or is there a special reuse you’d love to share? We have a few hundred more you might want to check out at our Trash Backwards app.
Pioneering The Simple Life 
Loved the cutlery holder! 💚
I may add it to our Reusing old Socks roundup: http://ecogreenlove.com/2014/05/15/reusing-old-socks/
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Love your roundup! Some great reuses there. Thanks so much for linking us to it and including some of our ideas.
— Liesl
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Sock and t-shirt yarn can also be used in the garden to tie up plants.
Old tights/bras can be used to support things like melons and gourds to keep them off the soil. (There is a joke in there too if you like!)
Another thing. If you have a (sports) injury and need a support strap you can use a thin, old sock to go UNDER it so that you when you sweat it doesn’t get uncomfortable and irritate so quick.
Having had tennis elbow I know how much of a difference it can make!
One from the wife.
If you have diabetes and the related foot problems, you may need to heavily moisturise your feet from time to time. To do that a good method is to goop on LOADS of moisturiser, put a sock on over it and leave it on overnight. This really does nothing good for the sock and so, if you have this issue, you may want to keep old socks around to use for that purpose.
Old socks and tights can be used to make pomanders, if you use them.
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These are brilliant! Great reuses, reminding me that orphan socks have a place in the universe. Praise be to single socks!
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Personality I put socks in an old pillow case so the machine doesn’t eat them. I have more holey socks than orphans!
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Our grandsons make a point of wearing mismatched socks to school, even when they are part of matching pairs!
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Well, they’re obviously on the cutting edge. How fun!
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Here’s what I do with mine — aside from dust cloths, which you already noted, I use one wrapped around the hummingbird feeder so it doesn’t freeze overnight.
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I took all the worn through pairs we had and those singles and made a quilt by sewing them onto an old sheet. It is one of the warmest quilts I’ve ever made. And, backed with blue batik, also quite pretty. It was so thick I had to tie it with embroidery floss rather than try to machine quilt it…
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I would dearly love to see this! If you have the time to take a picture and send it to my email address, clark liesl at mac dot com, then I would just love to show a picture of it here. Wow! What a great idea.
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My first step is to have not that many socks. I’m also wearing mismatched socks on purpose. 😉 I also use old socks for cleaning the bike and nicer ones as wristbands or cuffs when I repair our jumpers.
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Sadly, this post has come several years too late for us. Once the children fly the nest, somehow, socks don’t get lost any more. I’d love to be in a position to use a divorced sock on a hummingbird feeder though, aerie01. Not a chance here in Yorkshire, northern England!
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Oh! Great idea, Esther, to use an old sock for cleaning a bike. It’s the perfect size and enables fingers and hand to get into tight spaces. Many thanks!
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How interesting, that perhaps it’s the presence of children in our lives that makes socks evaporate or run into hiding. And, no hummingbirds in Yorkshire? I’m so surprised!
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Sock monsters ALL the way! Great ideas for mis matched socks here….I will put a few to good use myself, ha!
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Don’t forget sock buns :). That’s what I used one of my loner socks for.
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You’re absolutely right! I love sock buns. Thanks for the reminder!
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