Funny you should bring up the sock thing; my introduction to the whistle about 30 years ago was while at a NH State Police training seminar. A fellow student there, "Patty Doyle", an Officer from the Nashua Police Dept. as I recall, was a Piper. We were billetted in an old sanitorium on a hill, and after classes Patty would go out the rocks overlooking the NH lowlands and play a few tunes - a practice which I much appreciated, having always had a deep affection for the Great Hieland Pipes and the Auld Scots music. Once I noticed something odd sticking out of one of his "hose" (those knee socks worn with the kilt) which was obviously not a skein dubh, or one of those little daggers traditionally carried there. Upon inquiry, Pat pulled out a Clarke "C" which he used to tune his drones and chanter with, and occasionally work out a tune on.
Shortly thereafter, I aquired my first whistle - a "C" Clarke which I still play (and it is still quite nicely in tune by the way) . I taught myself to play after a fashion by ear in my cruiser late at night when traffic was slow while parked in a crossover between lanes of I-89. What I learned transferred over to the Fife when I finally got into reenacting many years later, and I still take my whistles out back in the evening while supervising the dogs and give them some music to poop by.