BS: Sleepy socks help

Subject: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Penny S.
Date: 13 Apr 12 - 07:48 AM

For the first time for ages, I am having problems with socks going to sleep in some new shoes. With one pair it happens every twenty or so steps, with the other, not so often. The make of shoes, though not the style, I have used before. The cotton socks are different each time, but they slide down my ankles, and disappear under my heels into the shoes.

Why does it happen? And how on earth do I stop it?

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 13 Apr 12 - 08:08 AM

Heel grips?

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 13 Apr 12 - 08:48 AM

I don't have a problem with most of my socks, just the fuzzy ones made of somewhat slippery yarn.

And footies (the little socks that don't come up on the ankle too far) need to have a little pom-pom on the back to keep them from sliding past the top of the shoe and to the bottom of my feet.

I think most of my socks are stretchy with some sort of elastic thread woven in.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Apr 12 - 09:33 AM

The US Marines and others use these.

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: GUEST,999
Date: 13 Apr 12 - 11:26 AM

I googled sock suspenders and the following was the first pic that came up, honest: HONEST!

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: GUEST,999
Date: 13 Apr 12 - 11:29 AM

Penny, never mind the advice you've received so far. Yer answer is duct tape.

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: GUEST,999
Date: 13 Apr 12 - 11:34 AM

Penny, see item # 250 on the list.

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Penny S.
Date: 13 Apr 12 - 03:22 PM

That'll keep me busy seeing if I need any of the other uses at the moment.

I do have some extremely powerful tape the previous owner of the house left in the garage, where it was fused to a metal shelf. I got it loose with a hacksaw, and keep moving it about to prevent a recurrence. The sticky part seems to involve bitumen. (I'm using some to seal my old water tank so it doesn't leak.) I don't fancy it for sock fixing, though.

Does anyone have any idea what the cause of the trouble is?

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Ed T
Date: 13 Apr 12 - 03:53 PM

Some folks do sleep with their socks on, claiming it helps with cold feet in bed.

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: GUEST,999
Date: 13 Apr 12 - 04:02 PM

Penny, I suspect that the elastic in the sock has stretched beyond the point it hugs your tootsies. Ya can't do much about it other than turn them into window-washer things.

Because I go through socks the way some folks go through peanuts or chips/crisps, I buy them at a buck a pair and all the same: black. One sock goes I grab another. When I fought fires, I went through a sock every four hours or so--always liked boots that were a half-size bigger than my feet. However, I had a kind of sock, musta bought it by accident, that felt great but when the elastic went they dropped down my lower leg to my ankles. I felt bad when I threw the damned things out, for all of two seconds.

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: frogprince
Date: 13 Apr 12 - 04:15 PM

999, I used to go through socks like that too, but then my wife made me start cutting my toenails at least twice a year, and now they last better.

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Penny S.
Date: 13 Apr 12 - 04:40 PM

Ah, but these socks are quite new, and do not go to sleep in other shoes, whereas any socks go to sleep in these particular two pairs. All my socks are ankle socks, mostly cotton, and the elstic seems OK.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Apr 12 - 05:04 PM

I can only wear all cotton socks, no elastic, so they get loose and slip around a bit, but never slip all the way down. I like that "sleepy" way of putting it. I thought this thread was going to be about a certain brand which helps one to sleep.:-)

Anyway, one time I ordered the same as usual and couldn't figure out why they always got sleepy. I finally received a notification from the company that there had been a mix up at the manufacturer's and my size had been made slighter shorter, the foot part, than normal, so they slid down and under. I threw them all out as soon as I received the replacements. So, maybe your socks aren't made quite right in size?

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 06:25 AM

Purely in a jocular vein, and no offence intended, but it couldn't be round heels could it?

J :->

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: wysiwyg
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 08:35 AM

And how on earth do I stop it?

Buncha dang ole slouches.

OBVIOUS answer: Why just walk on your hands! :~)

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: wysiwyg
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 08:39 AM

PS in the US a lotta socks that useter-was 100% cotton are now made to FEEL "just like cotton" but they are NOT. Look at the new socks' labels with a magnifying glass and see how much plastic has been spun right into your socks. "Supersoft" and "silky" = PLASTIC, fooled again!

We have such a glut of plastic in the environment now that what CAN be plastic, now, often (usually) is.

~S~
(still reeling from last attempt to buy real cotton at the local mercantile)

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 09:18 AM

Have you checked the footbeds of the shoes? Are they slick? If so, the socks (especially if cotton) might simply be sliding down as you walk -- your foot does move slightly.

The answer might be a pair of new insoles.

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: GUEST,999
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 01:40 PM

Rapparee has the answer to the problem, Penny. I've had that happen.

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Bettynh
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 01:48 PM

I have to ask. I understand exactly what you're describing, but I've never heard of "sleepy socks" before. Is this your poetic description, or does everyone you know use that term? Whichever, I think I'll keep it. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Penny S.
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 05:13 PM

The expression that socks have "gone to sleep" was used by my mother, which puts it in Sussex in the 20s. I don't know how far it would do back before that. I'll be looking for some insoles, I think.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 07:28 PM

Double-sided sticky tape would also work.

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: katlaughing
Date: 14 Apr 12 - 11:37 PM

Or velcro:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Penny S.
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 06:07 AM

Actually, I found some odd sticky tape in my tool box, thick and squishy and sticky on both sides. It didn't work for what I tried it for, but it might just do for this.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: s&r
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 06:20 AM

Similar usage in Nottingham we used to say socks had gone to bed.

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Penny S.
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 08:48 AM

Further investigation reveals the heel to be lined with suede - I suspect that the pile is the wrong way, and is actively working the socks down. In the way that a certain sort of grass with spikes like barley works its way up between shirt and sweater sleeves.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: frogprince
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 01:46 PM

Ah, Penny? Just what was it you were doing out there in the barley field?   : )

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Penny S.
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 02:58 PM

Silly - it was a primary school game. Along with shooting plantain heads, making poppy ladies, and doing "he loves me" not with rye grass.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Rapparee
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 04:21 PM

Who were these "plantains" and what did they do to you that you would shoot them in the head?

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Penny S.
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 05:19 PM

Here's a variety of the things - not to be confused with banana relatives.

ribwort plantain

To shoot with them, you pick a flower stalk, and use the lower part of the stem to make a tight loop just under the head. Then, pulling the rest of the stem sharply against the firmly held loop, the head pops off with some force and goes a few feet, allowing it to be used to hit other children. Or teachers from behind. Or anyone really.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 15 Apr 12 - 05:20 PM

sticky on both sides ...(?)

The tapes that are sticky on both sides come in a variety of kinds.

There are very thin ones used in manufacturing that make a very permanent bond and using one of these might fasten your socks permanently to your ankles - although these mostly have such an aggressive adhesive that the skin should peel off by the time you really need to change your socks.

The most common kind now, for home use, is a "foam core" that is advertised for "semi-permanent" hanging pictures and light objects on the wall. Theoretically the foam is just thick enough to insert a thin blade to cut it in two, and you then can peel of what remains on the wall and on whatever you hung. These don't generally stick well on "biological surfaces" but might stick enough to make a little "friction."

In common usage here, any tape that is sticky on both sides is called "manager tape" - because it's "TWO-FACED"

(variants are "supervisor tape," etc., but in one office where I worked it was called "Kenneth tape" although that was a very "local colloquialism.")

John

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Allan C.
Date: 16 Apr 12 - 06:00 AM

I think you and Rap are onto the source of the problem. I am thinking that your shoes are just a tiny bit too loose-fitting. As you raise your foot to take the next step, your foot slides slightly upward, causing your sock to be pulled downward due to the Velcro effect of that strip of suede you mentioned. Adding an insole might tighten the fit enough to prevent this from happening.

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Penny S.
Date: 16 Apr 12 - 09:01 AM

Interesting, because nearly all my shoes are from the same supplier and the same size. The offending ones are higher over the instep, and do not have laces. One pair has buckled straps, the other, velcro'd straps. The buckled pair, less adjustable, is worst.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Bert
Date: 16 Apr 12 - 10:08 AM

Thumb tacks;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Sleepy socks help
From: Penny S.
Date: 16 Apr 12 - 02:15 PM

Tee hee