Okay; so everyone knows that one red sock can turn an entire load of washing pink (without, incidentally, losing any of its own redness; a bit like giving blood, but without needing the cup of tea and biscuit afterwards), and that if you put ten socks into the washing machine, you will only retrieve nine afterwards. But can anyone explain how a duvet cover*, put in separately, will invariably eat every last garment that's put in with it? And when you think you've finally emptied it (the duvet cover, that is), there's always one little item (possibly the lost sock?) curled up smugly in a corner, to be found much later, slighly damp and a bit sort of crispy.
*I know, I know. You should always button up the duvet cover first, and tie up the socks separately in a little bag, but life is far too short for faffing about doing that kind of thing.
(Incidentally, I've always thought it might be fun to have a kind of sock-pairing party. Everyone brings a bottle of wine and a bag of odd socks, you throw them all (the socks, not the bottles) into the middle of the room, and then everyone leaps in and tries to make as many (approximate) pairs as they can. They get to keep the socks. This can of course be done to music.
I always encouraged small eccentricities in my kids and husband. That way they never complained about wearing odd socks and husband does it now even when he has proper pairs.
ReplyDeleteI do the same with ear-rings. I wear odd ones. As long as they are the same colour or material I reckon they look good.
I'll be checking back to see if anyone comes up with solutions to the laundry mysteries.
Love your sock party idea. That would be such a great excuse to get friends round and just have a laugh.
ReplyDeleteIt always seems to be socks - troublemakers they are! There are loads in my airing cupboard without partners. I'd love to know where they all go. I think a sock party is a brilliant idea, but that's probably where they all are, off at a sock party :-)
ReplyDeleteI suspect that somewhere there's another world where people keep finding unexplained extra socks in their wash. Either that or I've watched one too many episodes of Dr Who and Star Trek.
ReplyDeleteLynne, what a brilliant idea! In Devizes, we have a shop that sells socks in odd pairs, so that the odd sock problem is already solved. Sort of...
ReplyDeleteFran, what a pity we can't have a cyber sock party. But bringing cyber socks might present a problem. And as for cyber wine...
Teresa, the big question is, WHY do we keep them (the odd socks)? It's not as though their partners are ever going to re-appear.
Patsy, at last - the answer!
It's the same with teaspoons - where do they go?
ReplyDeleteYes, please, throw a sock-pairing party and tell us about it - with pictures, please!!
ReplyDeleteAnd now I'll let you in on another secret (my blog is not called "Librarian With Secrets" for nothing): I have never lost anything in the wash, although I often have 5 or more pairs of socks in one load... The most "dramatic" I've had happening in the wash was one of those wire bits that often are in a bra somehow sneak its way out of the bra and clank about in the machine while it was spinning, but thankfully, without causing any damage.
I know what you mean about the duvet cover - I close every second fastener, and it still eats the pillowcases! That should be almost impossible. And I too have a little pile of odd socks in the airing cupboard. Maybe every house has its own Borrowers.
ReplyDeleteAah, yes The Borrowers - I used to love that book. Another thing I would like to know is where pegs go to. I am always buying new packs as they just get less and less in number every week.
ReplyDeleteAlis, you're right. My mother managed to lose an entire set of Georgian silver teasopoons; very gradually, one by one, they disappeared.
ReplyDeleteLibrarian, maybe German socks behave better than English ones? As for the party, maybe new Year's Eve...
Rosemary, perhaps one of us could write a bestseller: The Very Hungry Duvet Cover?
Joanne, we once had a pet jackdaw who used to pinch clothes pegs and put them on the roof. Does that help?
hehe, I had the duvet cover issue with socks today, found 3 inside it. One white and 2 black - no idea where the other white sock went, or even where it is now.
ReplyDeleteSounds like my kind of party!
ReplyDeleteMy step-father used to pin his socks together before they went in the washer, something I occasionally regret not doing myself.
Hi, Just Me. I've got the other white sock!
ReplyDeleteDeborah, I know that pinning socks together is the answer, like buttoning up the duvet cover. I just can't quite bring myself to be that organised!
Earlier this year I started the News From Nowhere Orphan Sock Exchange (NNOSE) hoping that it would lead to people all over the world posting photographs of their orphan socks and leading to a form of fruitful intercourse. It never took off however. http://newsfromnowhere1948.blogspot.com/2011/01/who-nnose-meaning-of-internet.html
ReplyDeleteOh, Alan. If only I'd known...
ReplyDelete