Tag Archives: socks

Socks

How to Choose Socks

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Socks

Socks are perhaps the most overlooked article of clothing that is worn. Not only do socks keep your favorite shoes from getting stinky, but they protect your feet as well. Choosing a good sock can mean the difference in complete pain or complete comfort for your feet all day long. Socks come in many lengths nowadays and include:

•    No show: Can’t be seen when wearing a pair of sneakers.
•    Ankle high: Only comes up to the ankles, barley visible with a pair of sneakers.
•    Calf high: Comes up to the bottom of the calf. Some like to pull them all the way up while others prefer to push them down.
•    Knee high: Generally reserved for outdoor activities in the winter time when it is cold.

The length is generally a personal preference but what should be considered before you buy socks is what do you need the socks for?

No matter what kind of socks you buy you should ensure that they are a snug fit. The last thing you want to have is a pair of socks that keeps slipping down as this is a constant aggravation. There are as many different styles of socks so here is a quick reference to help you choose your socks:

•    Athletic socks: If you are into sports and are buying socks for your sporting event, be sure to get socks that have plenty of padding on the underside. This will help absorb all the shock from the added activity of the sport.
•    Work socks: If you need to buy work socks it is because you have a job where you stand on your feet part or all of the day. These socks should be thicker to offer you the most cushions possible so they can act like a shock absorber to your entire foot. If you wear work boots at your job, be sure that you get a sock that is high enough to cover the entire area and then some that the boot covers. You don’t want to get ankle high socks for work boots that are high topped.
•    Business socks: These stocks are generally lighter in material and are always colored. If your feet tend to sweat a lot you can buy business socks known as liner socks. These types of socks will help you to wick away sweat and avoid a wet and smelly foot.

Sock colors

Aside of business socks which come in a million different colors and patterns, most socks now come in white, black, blue, and even some other colors. There is really no advantage to one color over another, except that a darker color will of course hide stains better, so the choice of color is really up to you. Usually people choose sock color by what else is being worn.

Sock materials

The majority of socks are made of cotton because this allows for the foot to breath. However, if you are doing outdoor activities in the snow for example, a nice heavy duty wool pair of socks will keep your feet warmer and dryer than regular cotton.

Socks come in all shapes, sizes, and colors now. Having the proper pair of socks for what you are doing will help keep your feet feeling good all day long.

Sock drawer

How To Organize A Sock Drawer

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Sock drawer

If you’re like me then you likely haven’t give much thought to organizing your sock drawer. You know the drawer that I mean. It’s the one that contains your sports socks, dress socks, casual socks, and other assorted patterns, all jumbled together in one big mess. Sometimes it can take a few minutes to find a matching pair of socks in that jumbled mess when you’re in a rush to get to an interview. Often the solution means dumping the entire contents of the drawer onto the floor and then sifting through the rubble to find what you need.

Maybe it’s time to organize these socks so that you can get at them in a fast efficient manner. Organizing a sock drawer need not be a major chore, but doing it can give you a huge leverage of time in the future. So, five minutes of thought now in exchange for never having to do an exhaustive search for a complementary pair again.

What would be the best way to organize the socks? Start by dumping the sock drawer onto your bed to see what you have. If it’s been awhile, chances are there are socks in the pile you didn’t know you even had. Those can then be promptly thrown out. Now find pairs for everything. Any stray sock that doesn’t have a partner can also be thrown out. Be brutal. There’s no room for sentimentality when it comes to organizing socks.

So now you should have a collection of pairs of socks all over your bed. Should you roll the pairs together? Rolling means stretching one of the socks of a pair over another so that you’re left with a small ball that represents one pair. It’s personal preference what you’d like to do. Rolling pairs together will make for better organization, but the process of combining 2 socks together can cause them to stretch and might lessen their life. Most people find it best just to place the socks in drawers the way they are.

Now the fun begins. It’s probably best to put your newly sorted pairs into small piles based on function. At minimum you’ll have a sports pile, a dress socks pile, and a casual socks pile. Try to condense all of your socks into about four or five functions. Having five small piles seems much more manageable than one large pile. This way, when it comes time to find a pair in the future you’ll have to sift through a much smaller pile and that task won’t seem as daunting.

Once you have your four or five small piles it’s time to actually prepare the drawer. Find some unused shoe boxes or small cardboard boxes and fit them snugly inside the drawer. Then place each different pair set into one of the boxes. Your most-used socks can go on the left and those you use the least all the way on the right.

Now if your friend gives you that last-minute call and asks you to play tennis you won’t have to spend a majority of time looking for the right pair of socks.

Sock

How to Darn a Sock

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Sock

A common thing to do once your socks have holes in them is to throw them out and go get new ones, but did you know that you could save money and your socks by darning them? This doesn’t mean to belittle the socks by yelling at them and calling them names, but it is a process in which to repair the foot wear and make them as good, if not better, than new.

Darning a sock is not simply sewing up the hole as this would cause the sock to be mis-shapened and actually create a bump with the end result being a nasty blister where the bump resides. Darning is however a sewing technique and before the time of mass production it was a fairly common practice. You too can learn this method of sock saving and save yourself some money in the process.

Here are the steps to darn a sock:

1.    Get your supplies: Before you start to darn, you need the supplies to do so. You will need a darning needle, the proper thread, and a light bulb. For cotton or synthetic socks you will want to go with embroidery floss and if your socks are wool then you will want to go with, you guessed it, wool. The light bulb will be used in place of what is called a darning egg, which you can buy if you want to, and will keep the hole supported and make your repair much easier.

2.    Prepare the hole: Pull the sock over the light bulb, or darning egg, and gently cut away any jagged edges that the hole may have. Be sure not to make the hole any bigger than it already is though. Now thread the darning needle and get ready to go.

3.    Sew parallel: Begin by sewing a few running stitches above and to either side of the hole. Then push the darning needle through one end of the hole and make one large running stitch to the other side. Repeat this process until the hole is completely blocked up with parallel stitches.

4.    Sew vertical: Repeat the process going vertically this time. Be sure to weave in and out of the parallel stitches. Keep going until the hole is completely healed up.

It is important to note that you should not use any knots in your thread. If darned properly, knots are not necessary and will only add discomfort to you foot if used. You also need to be extremely careful when using a light bulb as opposed to an actual darning egg as too much pressure can be the cause of broken glass and thus lead to you having to go to the hospital to have your hand ‘darned’ up.

The key to successful darning is to get right after a hole once it has formed. Don’t wait until the hole is too big to work with and remember the old saying, ‘A stitch in time saves nine,’ meaning catch it early and save yourself some time and trouble.