Sock it to me

Adventures in women's athletic hosiery

Published on July 21, 2004 By citahellion In Home & Family

My fiancee and I have something in common. (Gasp, shock, amazement, you say. Okay, we have a lot in common, and here's one particular item.) We both hate to match socks. When that big load comes out of the dryer and there's 64 socks in the heap, in a heap is how the socks stay until everything else is done and we grudgingly turn to finish the odious task.

But there are steps one can take to minimize the drudgery of the chore, steps that I have taken, long ago; and even informed my woman of my solid solution. Yet still she persists in her sock follies. The simple thing to do to have sock-matching become a breezy assignment? Buy socks that are ALL THE SAME.

I have two kinds of socks: White socks and Black socks. I hardly ever even wear black socks, except on specific dress-up occasions. To match my white socks, I turn them right-side out and stack them neatly. Voila! Any sock is a match with any other sock.

My woman, on the other hand, also has two kinds of socks: White (athletic) socks, and colored (dress socks). Of the colored socks, no 2 pairs are the same color. (Okay, maybe she does have 6 or 8 black socks, but even then they are all unique pairs.) Almost all the white socks are Nike socks. Now this sounds like it might make matching simpler, doesn't it? But no! The amount of variety in Nike's womens' socks is disgusting! Is the swoosh black, blue, red, or grey? Is it on the elastic collar, or on the ankle sheath? Is it on the side of the sock, or the back? Does the sock even have an ankle sheath, or is there just an elastic collar? Is it a long sheath (3-4 inches), or a short sheath?

Even though she has 22 pairs of Nike socks (yes, I counted them last night), NOT ONE PAIR IS THE SAME AS ANY OTHER! How did she get this many different kinds of Nike socks? Why would someone even buy socks 1 pair at a time, especially if that someone detests the act of matching socks?

Is this normal behavior for women? How many unique pairs of socks do you have?

Comments

CS Guy

on Jul 21, 2004

How many unique pairs of socks do you have?

I have about 10 pairs of white ankle socks, all the same make and model.
I have 4 pair of grey socks, all the same make and model.
I have 4 pair of tan socks, all the same make and model.
I have 4 pair of black socks, all the same make and model.

And that's about it. All of the colored socks are the same make and model as well. I found a style that I liked and that was comfortable and have stuck with it.

dharmagrl

on Jul 21, 2004

I have 7 pairs of all the same make and model white ankle socks. (One for every day of the week)

I have numerous pairs of 'funky' socks...stripey ones, chicken ones, frog ones, argyle patterend ones.....so far I've been lucky and none have gone missing.

shadesofgrey

on Jul 21, 2004

I just don't match socks. I have a drawer that I throw them in, when I need them, I dig around and pull out similar socks. I should also add, that I hardly ever wear socks...I don't view them as necessary at all!

Sally jacobs

on Jul 21, 2004

...you counted them! Hehe...I didn't count mine...but I like you black and white theory, I have a few pairs like that, but I love pink socks, they are fab! I also like ones with cartoon characters on. I quite happily wear odd socks though, it builds character

citahellion

on Jul 21, 2004

Yes, I counted them. I was after her to toss all her unmatched socks and she said she hardly had any actual pairs left, so I went through her sock drawer and counted each pair as I tossed it out onto the bed. While I was doing this, by the way, I discovered a couple more stashes of unmatched socks. There were only 21 pairs in the drawer, and not all were Nike socks, so with the other socks that I found I was able to match 7 more pairs of white socks. Now I will admit that a few of her socks are quadruplets, so there is a TINY amount of redundancy.

It was a very humorous scene, by the way. Just in case anyone is mistakenly picturing me as the dour sock accountant.

Sally jacobs

on Jul 21, 2004

Just in case anyone is mistakenly picturing me as the dour sock accountant.

...I think you should change your name to that, haha

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