ummm...the link goes to example.com.

progoth

My mother-in-law taught us the slick trick of using an orphaned white sock as a cheap camera case for your point and shoot.

Just cut the calf elastic a little longer than your camera. Fold inside out, sew the end shut, trim it and viola!

Here's the right link: [planetgreen.discovery.com]

Dustin Meadows

Kevin:
The "Find 14 Uses for Orphan Socks" hyperlink tries to route to example.com -- you might want to update the link.

techchic

The sock gremlins are a myth, and I'm surprised that you people would opt for superstition and myth when hardcore scientific fact is so clearly in evidence. It should be obvious, even to the intellectually challenged, that washing machines occasionally consume a sock or two as part of their normal operating procedure.

Because of the environment in which this phenomenon typically occurs, I'm fairly sure nobody has actually documented the opening of the mouth and subsequent ingestion of the hosiery. It is, however, a matter beyond dispute.

Thank you for your attention. I hope for better from you in the future.

Counterglow

Protect your MP3 player? I'm sorry, that's way too trailer park for me.

I use mine as household cleaning rags (stick your hand inside, easier to get into tight spots) or for polishing leather (shoes, boots, belts, jackets, car seats).

Deprong Mori

When I got my first iPod, before I got a case for it, I kept it in a sock for a few days (while traveling) to protect it..haha. I'm definitely going to look into Operation Happy Sock..what a great idea!

applestocrapples

I put one over our overly sensitive smoke detector when we cook. :D It doesn't take much to set it off. Learned that trick from the potheads at college.

quagmire0

@Deprong Mori: Yeah I use mine for dusting my desk. Lets me get in the nooks and crannies and all that and does a great job of picking that stuff up.

jivemastert

I use orphaned socks to cover up my fishing reels when I put them into storage.

RGP

On Virgin Atlantic flights they always give complimentary socks to their over-seas passengers. I used mine to protect my camera while in Syria. Worked like a charm.

Siraf

My parents always referred to lone socks as "cack warmers". No explanation was ever given, so use your imagination.

EchoD

The link should point to:
[planetgreen.discovery.com]

ephemere

Use them as golf club head covers. Your golf partners will abhore you, fixate on the white trash covers, and throw their game off. This is the easiest way to improve your relative golf score.

xoted

* Fill one up with intant rice (or dried beans).
* Tie off one end
* Put in microwave for 1 minute
* Use as heat compress

OR

Put it in the freezer for about a day, and use it for a cold compress.

You can reheat it over and over with no problems.

holymogwai

If you make sure all your socks are exactly the same you never have to worry about orphans.

TheBlackCat

buy only black and white socks and you will not have this problem at all.

Spaceboy

when I'm working on my car and need to clean off greasy parts like bolts and nuts i put socks on my hands and wipe the parts off, it makes it easier to clean them really good

superbryant88

If you cut off the ankle of the sock to make a tube, you can slip tit over the bottle of cooking oil to catch drips. When the sock gets sticky, you can either wash it or toss it. My mother thought up this idea.

cluttery

Washing machines run not on electricity but socks. The plug is just there to fool you.

VestedFox

It's a little-known fact that the socks that go missing in the dryer aren't actually missing. They've transformed themselves into extra metal coat hangers in your closet.

Tammy

Put a tennis ball in the toe, tie it in a knot right against the tennis ball, and play tug of war with your dog. Also great for fretch, if your dog does that.

RickS

Hey, I use my babies "orphan" socks to protect my ipod and digital camera. It fits perfectly!!

soke2001

Where DO the socks go?

No seriously, where?

Myles

Rather than giving individual socks an opportunity to go astray, I picked up a bunch of cheap mesh zipper bags like you'd use for washing delicates. I keep one hanging next to the laundry hamper and put dirty socks in there rather than loose in the rest of the laundry. When the bag starts getting too full, just zip it and drop it into the hamper. No more lost socks.

mglover

Socks are great for protecting safety glasses from getting scratched when you toss 'em in your tool bag.

FredicvsMaximvs

Ah, comeon folks. A sock + enough pocket change to fill said sock = blackjack to KO unsuspecting enemies and friends alike. Other than that, I was going say the same thing about the rice or dried soybeans, whichever is cheaper in your neighborhood.

And they do make the best shoe polisher.

And everyone knows that the underwear gnomes has recently expanded their operations.

Damage

Single socks are perfect for cleaning your bike and it's chain. Keeps your hands clean of that nasty black gunk!

olivia2.0

LOL - what a subject. Fill it with rocks, stick it through your belt and carry it as a weapon.

The Consultant

The thing for me, I don't really know WHICH socks are "orphaned" because, well....all my socks are the same ;)

I will refer you to this previous Lifehacker thread ;)

[lifehacker.com]

But yea, I don't do any "sorting" of socks either :)

ahoier

Take a tip from Steven Seagal: put a billiard ball in it and beat up EVERY DAMN GUY IN THE BAR.

longbourne

Clean them good, take two elliptical pieces of cardboard, fold one in half and paste it to the "down" side of your sock, stick your hand in it. Locate the spot on the "upper" side of it where your knuckles are and paste there the other ellipse. Ask your parents permission to use the permanent marker and draw on the upper ellipse some eyes and on the lower a tongue.

Presto, Instant Hand Puppets!!! Have other two socks you could spare and are smaller (maybe child socks) then sew them to the sides of where your hand is and it will be a dog puppet.

Stuff them with the rest of your sockets (cut them to pieces if you want) and you have a cheap toy that you can use with your dog too.

whiskey

Like Ahoier mentioned, the best use for orphaned socks is to wear them. How? Only buy one kind / brand of (preferably) black socks.

You can reunite poor orphaned socks with their kin in no time. Problem solved.

That is if you don't need different types of socks. But even then you can have different sock-categories of same kind of socks, like "sports", "casual" and "evening".

Lasse Rintakumpu

There's another use that nobody's mentioning. I'm not going to mention it either.

Johnay

@Myles: "Where DO the socks go?"

They're stolen by the Underpants Gnomes as a part of their business plan, presented below:

1. Collect Underpants (and socks)
2. ?
3. Profit

mb

Wouldn't the term sock widows/widowers be more accurate?

surfer__ninja

Not to look like the Mickey Rourke character in 9 1/2 Weeks, but I just buy black sports socks and white sports socks. If I lose a sock, I don't care because there is always a match. Plus it saves a lot of time sorting. I wear the black socks to work and formal events. I can't stand thin dress socks. Anyway, that's a hack I read somewhere else (probably here).

hobgoblin

A grad student at Carnegie Mellon created the website "One Cold Hand" to try and reunite lost gloves with their mates, and recently won a Yahoo! Smiley Award for her website:
[www.cmu.edu]
Maybe she'll create one for socks.

travelina