All together in one place at the same time, rejoicing.
I cleaned out my sock drawer this morning.
I have a dream:
All together at last! --- those socks that lost their mates.
Hey. I don't ask for much. My standards are low.
“One of the best things about Heaven is that we will be able to reunite with loved ones who have already passed on. It will be the greatest family reunion we’ve ever known, with our loved ones, relatives and ancestors all together in one place at the same time, rejoicing. All together at last!”
— David Berg
New soles
for those oft-worn shoes that lost their tread.
- Mending the holes in my clothes and wearing my favorite coats/shirts again.
- Fixing what is broken.
Lord help me clean up my messes and fix what I broke and find what I lost.
Where do we begin?
Well, I've been following crocheting, knitting, rug-weaving, quilting, and other crafty crafters on social media.
I save all their clever tips into a File I'll never find again.
Ooh, here's one that I can still find!
From Up-Cycled Cloth Collective
You do not have to JOIN THE GROUP to see this post:
Here's the opener:
SOCK AFGHAN! 😃 🧦 🧦 🧦
I've noticed quite a few posts asking what to do with socks that get holes, and I'm surprised I can't find any replies or posts about the wonderfully warm sock afghan! Is this a lost art?
My grandma used to slowly make these as socks would blow out and could no longer be darned. She had a basket she'd throw the socks into, along with yarn scraps. When she had some time, she'd pick up a sock and whatever yarn came along and crochet the edges. Eventually, when there were many squares, she'd crochet them together to make a blanket for whatever lucky family member was next on the list of people who requested one.
You can, of course, do more planning with yarn colors and pattern layout if desired, but here are pictures of my mish mosh style sock afghan. They are very heavy and warm, I like it as an extra layer in between my sheet and comforter... they wash well...and come to think of it, this one is over a decade old and has never needed a repair.
HOW TO:
Cut off the foot, leaving the top part intact, which is what you'll use for your blanket. Gram would choose a uniform number of inches to cut the socks to. Lay the top part flat (so it's essentially doubled over- this is how the blanket is so warm!). Then, crochet right into it and go around the edge for a few rows. Eventually, when you have enough of these, you then crochet them all together to the desired size of blanket.
I sew... I never learned crocheting or knitting, so I won't be able to answer specific crochet questions 😬 I am including a close up in case maybe our crocheters can field any questions if people have them. I can tell you, by counting, that there was not a set number of stitches around each sock. I think that depended on how thick the yarn was.
...and the foot part of the sock can be washed and used to dust with 🙂
If anyone does have a sock blanket, I would love to see it!
And if you click on that link -- Here it is again, you're welcome -- you can read her instructions on making the afghan AND see the photo (copy/pasted below for your convenience, because if you are like me, you ain't never gonna click on that link):
All right. I'm feeling magnanimous.
Let's be honest here.
Face reality.
Smell the roses.
(Not smell the socks!)
Honestly,
You're not gonna click on that link, nor SAVE that link, but you might re-Hive this post in order to keep the instructions in case that RAINY DAY comes when you empty your sock drawers and start making cozy, cute blankies (afghans) from them!
Edited to add (by request, so people can do initial rough estimates for their own):
This blanket is 7 socks wide by 17 socks tall (119 socks total), each one oriented horizontally. Each sock was cut at about 6-7" long, the widths (which you don't cut) vary from about 3-4", and the crochet adds about 2" to both the length and width.
My quilt covers the top of my queen sized mattress (with no extra hanging down), which I like because it is so heavy and I use it in between the sheet and top comforter. If it were bigger, I think I'd get trapped!
2nd edit for crochet instructions, provided by Cathy Cox by looking at my photos:
Prepare the socks as described above.
Single crochet (sc) into the edge around the sock, turning each corner with a sc-Ch 2-sc in the corner. Join w/ slip stitch; chain 3, double crochet (dc) in each stitch around edge, turning corners with dc-ch3-dc. slip stitch to join at end.
That's basically how you edge each piece, and then you just join them by crocheting or sewing them together.
Thanks, Cathy!!!
SAVE THE SOCKS!
Ok, save the instructions, at least, on how to save (salvage, upcycle) your old socks.
Or.... just THROW THEM INTO THE LANDFILL, or drive to the landfill to find that bin for old clothing that will get recycled --somehow, somewhere -- it's kind of like The Promised Land, that place we like to believe in, but will we ever get there? Does it exist?
Meanwhile I came across some shabby shirts and socks of my dad's, and he has been dead only half a year, not long enough yet for me to touch his things without a new deluge of tears for O, mein papa!
Well, hey, let's revisit that post about mein papa and his yellow hospital socks. (I tried hyperlinking it.)
Never mind the hyperlinking; you're not gonna click anyway, but I'm a gonna include the pertinent parts right here. Because. SOCKS.
Aging isn't for sissies, Dad says.
An ambulance in the night,
and three days in a hospital hooked up to IVs and a catheter, with a "sitter" at all times to keep this old farmer from yanking out all the tubing and finding his way home, even though a sudden inability to stand was what precipitated the emergency visit and 3-day stay. Had he seen a doctor weeks (maybe months!) ago, this hospitalization could have been avoided.
Saturday snapshot of Dad watching a fall litter of kittens
What a way to acquire new socks!
At first Mom thought he was having a stroke, with slurred speech and leg weakness, but the ambulance crew ruled that out. It took two big men to shoulder him into the ambulance and round-the-clock sitters to keep him confined to his sickbed.
On the bright side, he kept his socks on, something toddlers and babies notoriously never do. Now, the trick is get him to take them off.
(There's more, but you don't need to read it here and now.)
That said, here's the link -- Yellow Socks -- in case you have time to squander, reading the rest of that post.
I miss my dad
And I dream of the day we all reunite in some heaven, lightyears away, or maybe here on earth, unseen, but real.
And if there's a St. Peter at the gate, he will greet each of us with a bag, a humble and mysterious looking bag of goodies, and what treasures await us in that bag?
ALL THE LOST THINGS
The ring you lost. The keys you never did find. The scrapbook that got lost in the flood. The photos that faded (Kodak). The beloved cast iron skillet that your sister pillaged from Grandma's house because she got there first. You know. ALL THE LOST THINGS.
They'll all fit into that bag that awaits us at the gates of heaven.
And.... ALL THE MISSING SOCKS will not be there, because we is all gonna go BAREFOOT IN HEAVEN.
End of my daily rant.
Thank you for joining me here.
God bless you, and may the Great Spirit in the Sky restore to you all that you have lost and would love to recover.
THE END
(for about the next five minutes, LOL)