During the infamous basement purge (which is still under way) I got rid of a large basket of stray socks. It felt good, REALLY GOOD, to shove them into the trash bin.  The vast majority of them were not only sad socks without partners, but various other socks in varying degrees of breakdown. Many were also socks the girls had outgrown. It was a mess.

Sidebar: I’ve learned to buy kiddie socks in larger quantities (i.e packages of 6 identical pairs). This means that if one gets lost it doesn’t matter as much because they’ll always be a match. If you have two children of the same gender with sizes that are fairly close, I recommend colour coding each kid. For example, the eldest girl can have mostly pink, purple and red socks. The youngest can have mostly orange, green, and blue socks. It takes the guesswork out of sock sorting!

Anyway, the aforementioned basket ‘o singles was an idea I had some time ago. Instead of putting the strays back into the drawer hoping for a miraculous reunion, I just weeded them out, making room for happy pairs. Smart eh?

But I digress.

Now that I’ve tossed out our old singles I’ve realized there are a bunch of things I could have used them for.

1 – The thing that had me recently rooting for a stray sock is the sock bun. It’s an easy way to create a swank updo. (And yes, you need a sock for this!) If I can just make a recommendation, don’t use a white sport sock (um, like I did, because that’s all I had)… it might peek through your hair. Use a darker sock, or better yet, one closer to your hair colour.

Here is the YouTube video that inspired me to try it (and it totally works by the way).

2 – Dust rags. Yes. Boring. But stick a sock over your preschooler’s hand to introduce them to Dusting 101. (I believe in startin’ them young!)

3 – How about a classic hand puppets? Here is an excellent sock puppet monster tutorial

4 – Sock dogs. Once upon a time I made some gifts. They are surprisingly easy to make, even for someone like myself. Photos and instructions over here.

5 – No sew sock snowmen! I think this is a really cute idea.

6 – Sock bunnies! (Easter is coming, so get started!)

7 –  Baby legwarmers. Cut off the toe off a couple of fun socks, and voila, baby knees are protected from wear and tear.

8 –  A budget friendly iPod protector, to keep your tech toys safe and warm.

Can you think of any other ways to use those old stray socks? Please share!