Stuff to do with old socks

I absolutely hate all my socks right now. I accidentally bought a bunch of new socks thinking they were my usual kind. But they had sneakily changed the fiber content to be, like, half plastic or something. They feel so gross that I just can’t wear them but also feel like I HAVE to keep wearing them until I can justify buying new socks. I have a problem, I should just throw these crappy things away! So, Im wondering what I can do with these horrible foot torturing socks instead of throwing them away and making myself all guilty feeling.

What should pop up in my feed reader but a post by Citric Sugar and her idea to use the cuffs of old socks are rubber bands to hold her knitting yarns together! Great idea!

So then I needed to Google for ‘uses for old socks’ and I came up with some good results.

There is a book called Sock Doll Workshop: 30 Delightful Dolls to Create and Cherish. It gets some good reviews.

Make a beanbag cradle for your camera.Helps keep your camera stable while taking pictures and is a replacement for a tripod. Neat!

On Mothering.com Laughing Hyena has some good tips:

My mum has used them to make little drawstring bags, Cut of the foot part so that you are left with a tube, then cut a circle of fabric and sew into on end of the tube at the cut end. To add a drawsting either fold down a hem at the top part of the sock and thread a string through or add a few eylets and thread a string through those. As children we used to keep marbles and all sorts of little bits and pices in these.

You could do bean bags, again cut of the foot then sew along the top and bottom of the tube and fill with beans (I like to put the beans in a plastic bag first for waterproofing)

Cut off the feet off several socks, join the tubes together and stuff for a draft sausage for the door.

If you’ve got complete socks whos’s mates are worn out you could make one of tjose wall hangings with the pockets by sewing socks onto a pieces of backing fabric.

The white lacy school socks are good for small childrens embroidery, cut off the foot and cut down the tube so you have a flat piece. Then children can use a darning needle and wool to thread through the holes and make pictures.

Cyinda on Thriftyfun.com has this idea: “Fill toe of old sock with salt & wipe this on bathroom mirrors to keep them from fogging up”

Various other uses: catnip toy, dog chew toy, stuff with rice or beans to make an eye pillow, cut into strips to make garden plant tie ups, sock puppets (my socks are kinda too small for this application), and use them to make rag rugs.

Wikihow also has a good list here as does blisstree.

Photo credit to Citric Sugar.