Comments on: Sustainability and Socks

By: VelvetAckbar

VelvetAckbar — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:12:00 +0000

One of the nice things about wool is that it can be worn for 3-4 days without terrible difficulty. Eventually, they have to be washed, but they don’t ahve to be washed after every wearing.

By: kmcdade

kmcdade — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:10:31 +0000

That’s about what I figured — looked a couple of army surplus websites (which are scary, BTW). I agree on the wool – and got wool socks for $4-5/pair, so I’m happy!

By: VelvetAckbar

VelvetAckbar — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:05:30 +0000

Army surplus socks: Not wool, actually. A&B has wool socks, but they are either factory seconds (affordable at 7 or 8$ a pair) or fairly expensive at 12 to 25 a pair. The military has moved away from wool to more high-tek fabrics and solutions. Other countries are phasing out their wool clothing so we are still some influx of it, but its becoming more an more rare.

I recommend wool if you can possibly get it. While cotton does work and lasts for a bit, they really can’t be repaired like a good wool sock, and when they get wet in the cold, they stay wet in the cold for a looooooong time.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:57:02 +0000

For me socks fall into that category that isn’t necessarily found locally – like coffee, many spices, bananas too. The wool could possibly be local, but cotton? Then who makes them?

I like the idea of ‘recycling’ them, if they last long enough to recycle! My boys go through them (literally) in a matter of months. Maybe that’s why I don’t see them at Goodwill – too worn out to be resold.

Kudos to you for braving Black Friday at Fred Meyers. You could probably take orders and come out ahead for next year!
Rebecca ´s last blog ..Making Berry Delicious Pies

By: kmcdade

kmcdade — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:56:38 +0000

I’m actually planning a post on the locally grown issue.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:48:08 +0000

An inexpensive source of sock yarn doesn’t exist. I mean, my friend Rebekkah spins her own, but even then she pays for fleece and spends hours and hours spinning it. I’d say a very cheap pair of socks (and generally you get what you pay for) would cost $10 in yarn alone, plus the hours of work. Susan was knitting at a time when commercial socks were not available and/or not good quality; if she was wanting to support the Boys Over There NOW, she’d never spend that time knitting socks.

I’ve darned socks, even plain old athletic socks, and most of the other sock-knitters I know darn (though usually don’t re-knit, I think) their handmade socks–but that’s because of the original cost and amount of effort that’s gone into the socks, not, again, because it’s an efficient activity in and of itself.
Wendy´s last blog ..A Sucker for E-Books

By: Gary Walter

Gary Walter — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:28:01 +0000

These are the kind of decisions @wifenkids and I have. Often it comes down to affordability. But for awhile there we didn’t buy any bananas – since they aren’t locally grown – but can you imagine raising kids without bananas?

Sometimes it is good to save money where we can, so we can afford to make more responsible decisions in other areas – for the greater good.
Gary Walter´s last blog ..Food Stamps and the Oregon Health Plan

By: kmcdade

kmcdade — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:14:02 +0000

It was fun — Shari, Kirsten and Kate were all there, plus a bunch of other people.

If one had a fairly inexpensive source of yarn (and it wasn’t Red Heart from Wal-Mart) and could knit efficiently (Didn’t Susan Baker do a sock a day?), knitting your own might be helpful. And wasn’t it in All of a Kind Family that Mama knitted new heels into their stockings when they wore out? That would be useful, although I suspect it might not work with commercially made socks.

By: kmcdade

kmcdade — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:06:06 +0000

Thanks, Pam — that certainly validates my decision!

By: Wendy

Wendy — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:35:32 +0000

This is the kind of thing I love to figure out. You are like the environmentally/socially-conscious Tightwad Gazette. My initial guess was that it wasn’t going to be practical/efficient/affordable to do it any other way, and it sounds like that’s how it turned out. I mean, you can probably spend the money you would have spent on local or organic socks on something else local or organic that has a greater impact either on you or the environment or the local economy… I didn’t know that about Fred Meyer being bought by Kroger… Plus by doing this you got to be with friends and participate in a tradition that’s been going on around fifteen years! (for Shari, I mean, I don’t know how long Fred Meyer has been doing it, but I remember her talking about this in high school, I think.)

Meh, if you can knit you can knit socks, but no one knits socks because it’s practical or economical. (Knitters being what they are, sometimes they try to claim it’s both, but that only works if you would be knitting something during that time and with that money anyway.)
Wendy´s last blog ..A Season of Gifts and Racism: one more round