Socks - shall I bin them

I don’t knit but your post did make me giggle! I’d give up.

Life’s too short to knit socks or darn them
Or stuff a mushroom!

Anyway, you’d only ‘lose’ one in the laundry cycle ....
?

Where DO they disappear to?

I always knit them on four needles - OH says they are far more comfortable than any socks you buy.

I know I wouldn’t have the patience to knit socks! If you don’t think you’ll finish them you could unravel the yarn and reuse it or donate it to a charity shop.

Its very thin bamboo yarn, beautiful stuff, but a nightmare to unwind. On the back burner I think for now. I have never mastered four needles (tried once) and have seen a woman doing it on a train and watched in amazement!

Yarn came from a charity shop to begin with!!

I currently have 56 odd socks. Don't be me and keep things for the sake of it lol maybe turn them into something else?

There is a theory that lost socks turn into Tupperware lids which don’t fit any dishes.

I saw packs of 6 socks all highly patterned and very colourful - intended to be worn as random pairs. Start a new fashion in odd socks.

I've been knitting socks on 4 needles for years but I must confess that I've never heard of Kitchener stitch. Can anyone enlighten me. By the way, I use them with a pair of cotton socks inside in lieu of slippers on these cold evenings. Wouldn't change them for the world.

I've never learnt how to knit with 4 needles. .looks complicated and I dont have much patience these days!
mary51 ... Ooo bamboo yarn, I've heard it's very soft to wear.
I also dont know of kitchener stitch.
I've got so many unfinished projects that I've made a new years resolution to give any new ones to charity shop. Some one else can unravel or finish if they want to!

Sorry to say it, but socks with a seam are bound to cause blisters, unless they are intended as bed socks.
Couldn't you unwind them and use the wool for something else?

We were taught to knit socks and gloves on four needles in secondary school. We were allowed to take them home and work on them there. This coincided with my granny's annual visit. As she was an expert sock knitter, she took over and showed me how to turn a heel - in other words, she did it for me! Maybe my teacher suspected, but she never said anything; she was probably glad there was something I couldn't mess up! Incidentally, Welshwife, odd socks were popular the Christmas before last when my GD asked for some as a gift. I thought they might have gone out of fashion by now!

I wouldn’t have the patience to knit socks or the inclination, but I do by the bamboo yarn sox they are so comfy, I’ve never seen anyone use four needles amazing, I think you should do what you feel is right for you, mary51

Buy not by

I make socks with 4 needles and they are the most comfortable ever. Find instructions for kitchener stitch and print them out and mark line by line. Use enough stitch markers

I did child size more for the technique challenge. Beautiful random dyed sock yarn Happy by Wendy. Long term project for gift for daughter. More of a rainy day thing really..

If they’re all natural fibre you could compost them!

I knit lots of socks.On four needles and often with Aran yarn. Wellie socks .I just turn sock inside out at the toes and hand stitch them using my own Kitchener method.

I've knitted a lot of socks and sometimes I graft the toes and sometimes cast off two needles together. I had never heard of Kitchener stitch, so googled it and it seems to be what I always thought of as just grafting. It was interesting to see that Lord Kitchener was credited as having invented/suggested it for making seam-free socks though. Thank you mary51 - it's always good to learn something new!

Mine are not only unfinished, they are not even started, mary51

Two 'sock kits' from Lidl (how long ago was that?), a pattern from Sirdar, also bought the yarn, purchased some rather nice sets of four needles and was given a book of sock patterns all of which I get out occasionally and shove away again.

Well done for getting that far.

Unraveland and use to knit something else.

I tried knitting socks once....erm no. Not for me. My MIL on the other hand, is the queen of sock knitting. She churns them out at a spanking pace. I am the lucky owner of two pair and I guard them jealously - they are SO much more comfy than bought ones.
I love em. If you have the patience, finish em, or if not, we could always send em to my MIL...

If the wool is washable socks make very good dusters - just put them over you hand.

Odd socks go on the 'feet' of my stepladder if I use it outdoors!

In Scandinavia you knit socks with 5 needles; you hold 4 needles and knit with the 5th. That is how we learnt it in school. I know I can buy socks cheaper than I can knit them. However, my knitted ones are so comfortable and I find knitting very therapeutic and it keeps my fingers nimble.