My friend Kate is growing a little tired of my talking about wool things. I had already told her about the sweaters, and on the playground I was putting on my new (scratchy) wool gloves from Wal*Mart and was talking about my socks. She started singing the classic preschool ditty above, with the relevant lyric change.
So, to keep Kate happy, let me tell you about the socks. Smartwool socks are the best socks you’ll ever put on your feet. Period. However, they are pricey. At the beginning of the school year, I resolved that I would buy a new pair of wool socks every month until I had 7 pairs. (I already have 3, so this wasn’t such a giant goal.) But, laziness won out, so I waited until last week and bought myself three pair (though I forgot to include a pair in the photo).
I also bought a pair from the clearance section for Lloyd (made specifically for steel-toed boots) because I am love and sunshine rolled into one. He snickered and made some royal fun of me for a long time “You spent how much for one pair?”… until he put them on.
Lloyd: “Oh. Wow! These are really nice.”
Me: “I know. They’re made of sheep.”
Smartwool things are different from cheap wool things. As I said, my Wal*Mart gloves are made from mean, scratchy sheep, but the socks are dreamy – made from Mary’s finest. I’ve actually had a pair of socks for several years that have been wearing out at the heel, but have never broken through. I was showing them to Lloyd and guess what? They turned out to be Smartwool!
P.S. Lloyd just proofread this and said, “You never explained anything about this Smartwool stuff and why it’s special.” I laughed OUT LOUD and said, “Seriously? You want me to write MORE about wool socks and make this post LONGER?”
Ok. Let me tell you a story from my childhood. My sister Keren came home from college, where she was learning about fibers and cloth, and she taught me how to make felt. You take a bunch of wool, put a little soap on it, then wash it in HOT water to open up the fibers. As you scrub it, the little ‘hooks’ on the hairs grab on to each other and connect it into one big mass. The more hot water and agitation, the thicker and denser the mass. That’s why wool things shrink in the wash. Smartwool things are made from magic sheep. Don’t bother fact-checking that.
But would Smartwool resist the cutting action of my big toenail?
I got some bamboo fiber socks a while back and LOVE them, but they all have holes in the toe now. What’s the point of me getting ANY nice socks? Maybe I should just have my big toenails removed.
For your problem, you might want to look into steel wool.
rim shot
Thank you, folks! I’m here all week!
As always, I can recommend a doctor for you.
Thanks a lot. I just spent 14 minutes looking at socks.
A friend bought me some socks from a wool fair last year. They’re handmade, hand combed, hand dyed, and are perfect and wonderful. They, too, were not cheap. But it’s sooooo nice to have nice things on your feet!!
You’re a great commercial. But where can I find these Smartwool socks?
REI. Hudson Trail. Sports Authority. Probably Cabelas… Bass Outlets. Basically sporting goods & outdoor places. Oh, and they have colors like plain black, so that you can even wear them with work clothing.
rei-outlet.com has them for cheap & you can opt to pick them up in store for freeeeee 🙂
Love Smartwool. I wish my toes wouldn’t go through them so fast. They need better reinforcement. Or I need to learn how to darn them. Darnit.
When we were on choir tour in Germany many years ago, we stayed at the home of this nice old lady who offered to do our laundry for us. We were living out of suit cases so that was great. The next day all of our underwear was ironed and our socks had all been darned.
Why do I know the word ‘darned’? Is it in some nursery rhyme somewhere? It doesn’t seem like the sort of word I would know.
Did/do you ever watch ‘I Love Lucy’. She darns Ricky’s socks in several episodes.
I think you’re right. Must be from TV. But in my case I think it’s from The Waltons.
So do you think you could shrink a sheep if you put it in (tolerably) hot water and started scrubbing?
I tried this once –we had sheep when I was young(er)– and they do not like it.
Hmm.. that’s too bad. I suspect there’s an untapped market for teacup sheep.
Is a “free-range sheep” like a “free-range chicken”? And why don’t they show any pictures of these amazing sheep on the web site?
You just want to wear a sheep, blah! blah! blah! blah!