What do you do when you suddenly realize your socks have humongous holes well beyond repair? Do you throw them away? Here’s a seasonal super-duper easy way to recycle them into fingerless gloves.
What you need:
- A pair of socks, ideally with holes at the heel. Woolly socks are the best as they fit in well as gloves. Plus they’re warm!
- A pair of scissors
- Some yarn and a needle
First of all: wash the socks. You can never wash them too much.
Cut the socks as shown: just above the heel and just below the toes. You now have 3 parts. The top part is useless for this project.
Blanket- or zig-zag-stitch all raw edges to prevent unraveling. Use chunky colored yarn for increased radness!
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What to do with the middle part:
- Roll it inside-out so as to see the inside of the sock.
- Roll the edges toward the middle so as to obtain a kind of tube which shows the outside of the sock. This is what you’ll see once the glove is finished.
- Sew the two edges together.
- Roll inside out again in order to hide the part you’ve sewn.
What to do with the bottom part:
- If it already had heel holes: check the size of the hole with your thumb. If it can’t fit in: slightly enlarge the hole by cutting it. If the thumb fits in and you can see half your palm, it’s too big and your feet were probably cold in winter. Sew it so that only the thumb sticks out.
- If it didn’t have heel holes: cut a hole about 2 inches below the edge. This hole should be approximately 1 inch long.
Sew the bottom and the middle part: put the bottom part on your hand, and slip the middle part over it. Determine how far you want the middle part to cover your fingers. Cover-stitch.
Roll everything inside out again. Sew. Roll inside out a last time.
Voilà!
Excellently timed post, as I just cleaned out my sock drawer and was wondering what to do with the super comfy and pretty socks that have holes in them. 🙂
Ooooooo, I dig it.
I had a friend do this to a pair of my socks that I was going to throw away. I thought it was pretty nifty.
similarly, i cut the foot part off of worn out knee high socks to make leg warmers for my toddler! and i’m amazed how long they continue to last and look great.
I did this too. Now he’s nearly 5 I use all the former leg warmers as wrist warmers. On a few pairs I’ve cut a hole for my thumb so I can wear them as lightweight fingerless gloves when I’m sewing.
I’ve done this without sewing by cutting the sock off just above the heel (where the hole was) and cutting a small thumb hole about an inch down from the top of the sock. That way, the snug top of the sock is around my hand, and the cut off portion is tucked into my sleeves. I could blanket stitch the raw edges, but I haven’t yet. 🙂
Heh, I was doing this before it was cool 😛
I have a lot of knee-high socks, and they make awesome opera-length fingerless gloves 😀
Yay for the knee-high-socks-turned-elbow-length-fingerless-gloves!
I do this with knee length socks to make arm warmers. I cut off the toe and make a thumb hole right in the point of the heel, sealing both off with fray-check. The heel bend fits perfectly over the thumb part of my hand and the cuff part of the sock keeps the arm-warmer in place on my upper arm. There is no sewing required.
I’ve been doing this forever! It’s so awesome because I love crazy socks and can’t stand throwing them away… some of them were pretty expensive for socks… this is a great way to keep them around for at least a few more years.
I’ve been doing the less-complete version of this since middle school. I just cut off the toes and add a thumb-hole.