I hate doing the washing. With a vengeance.
There’s always so much of it. And what’s worse, hardly any of it seems to be mine. That’s what comes of living with two mucky males, I suppose.
What really gets my goat is socks. Specifically, male socks.
The smell of them as they sit waiting to be washed, polluting the wash basket. The ubiquity of them.
The fact that they’re supposed to be all the same (black or grey) and yet are all everso slightly different – just enough to make pairing them up a challenge that wouldn’t be out of place on The Krypton Factor.
And after spending hours matching them up, there’s always one, or two, or even three that don’t have a partner. Like the result of a bad dating agency. Or the end of a village hall dance.
They should make washing and sorting other people’s socks a part of community service. That’d learn ’em. They could do ours.
But I digress…
The fact is, I’m not even keen on washing fabric.
But of course I do it, because with vintage fabric, sometimes you just have to.
This lovely stuff arrived recently and looks absolutely perfect. It’s obviously never been used in any way whatsoever.
It’s as bright and crisp-looking as the day it came out of the factory, or mill, or wherever it was made.
But it smells. And so into the wash it must go.
Ho hum.
That really is a cheerful bit of fabric – so chirpy – lovely!
Totally with you on the washing front. I have 4 people of the male variety living in this house and I have had to introduce a ‘single sock bucket’. It is, of course, neither use nor ornament!
Emma x
I’ve given up sorting my partner’s socks – I just leave them in a heap and let him try to pair them up!
With lad’s, I leave them on top of his chest of drawers and if the other sock doesn’t appear within a week or two I end up throwing the odd ones away. No mercy. Of course, as soon as they’ve gone, the other sock turns up!
My house is awash with black socks in ages 4 to 40 sizes … Lost count of the number of time husband has tried to stuff foot into little size 10 socks, and youngest daughter has pulled big size 10s over her knees … and I have a bulging ‘sock bag’, where all the odd ones reside. Where do they go, all the other socks? One of Life’s Great Mysteries! x
Black socks… don’t get me started… I can’t buy black socks for myself any more – my partner nicks them and mixes them up with his so they end up all stinky and stretched!
Laundry is taking over my house. I have 2 baskets FULL of mismatched socks from over the years. They taunt me to match them up daily.
We were speaking of washing fabrics last night because my daughter and I had gone shopping and bought some for sundresses!!!!! Perfect timing to read your blog post!
Happy laundering 🙂
No such thing as happy laundering Tammy (grouch, grumble).
Take the bull by the horns and throw those odd socks away for spring! Or make them into sock puppets instead!
I have a hoarding-tendency and have many sock-puppet ideas in mind! And you called it, no such thing as happy laundering – however, I am weird this way in which where ironing is concerned, I set up a “beat-my-time” game for myself each time, trying to get it done faster than the last ironing-session. Oh simple minds…
I agree, why do I get stuck doing the washing every weekend!!! It is never ending
Laundry is much better when you can hang it on the line.
I love sleeping in line-dried bedding. But I hate hanging it out. I invariably drop socks all down the garden and trail my nice white sheets in the mud, or get dirty lines on them from forgetting to wipe down the washing line first!
Oh you have cheered me up … I am in the same boat … just today I have been sorting the little ones clothes into what fits and what doesn’t … I have about five laundry baskets all in various states … waiting to be washed, waiting to be ironed and waiting to be put away … an awful lot of waiting it seems … I have found things in the bottom of some of them today that I hardly remember … so I am streamlining and as for the socks … I just give up … I have heard of little clips for pegging them together before they go in the machine but that is a lot of work with pongy socks … not sure it would be worth the flipping effort … Bee xx
Yes, there are just too many stages to getting washing done, aren’t there? It needs a production line approach I think, so that one person is only ever responsible for one little bit of the process!
And as for pegging together pongy socks… that’s a step too far. My partner’s socks are virtually radioactive by the time they go in the wash so I spend as little time dealing with them as I can get away with!
Absolutely agree about the socks thing, I’ve got 3 males & 1 female to contend with and it’s a nightmare! And at the end of the washing, after having dealt with smelly inside socks I end up with more odd ones than a little 🙁 With regards to your fabric issue, I too have had to wash some that have either smelt of cigarettes or just old age! I always think it’s a shame to wash vintage unused fabric but sometimes needs must when there’s a nasty niff going on! Nice blog 🙂
Thanks Marie!
My fabric smelled rather fusty, like it had spent time in the drawer of an old piece of furniture, situated in a damp room. I feel your pain on the socks front. I have only one child, I can imagine my own horror is multiplied threefold for you!
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By the way, if anyone needs another suggestion of something to do with their odd socks, take a look at this thing of niceness that I spotted on Lulastic’s blog – there’s even a tutorial on how to make one! Click on the photo to see:
