Today we are gonna talk about old socks. Yup, just about the most disgusting old things you don’t feel too sad about throwing away. If they are 100% cotton or wool you could theoretically compost them, but I am talking about athletic socks with nylon and Lycra. I don’t know about your household, but with three or four workouts a week we generate an annual supply of at least a dozen pairs of blown out, dingy, ratty socks. Inspired by “calamari” technique of Mason Dixon Knitting, I discovered you can make them into a kind of yarn.
Making Sock Yarn–step-by-step
Start with a pile of old socks 
and a sharp pair of scissors. 
Cut the sock into 1/2″ wide strips, changing the angle of cuts to exclude the heel. 
Hold the loop you want to join over your thumb and pinkie and line the existing chain perpendicular to the one you are holding 
Put the new loop under the old one, then scoop your finger through the old loop and under the new one. 
Pull the new loop up through the old one and through itself, letting the loop slide off your other fingers 
Pull up until snug 
and repeat until you have a giant ball of sock yarn.
Now get your biggest crochet hook out (I used a P = 15 mm). Make four chains and join with a slip stitch. Crochet as many single crochets as you can in the loop. Continue working in a spiral in rounds, making two singles in every single for the first couple of rounds, then gradually decreasing the frequency of increases as the circle gets larger. Basically if you can’t reach the next single crochet to work into with the hook, make a second single crochet in the same stitch. Check frequently to make sure you are keeping the shape flat. Keep going until you are temporarily out of socks or your rug is big enough. Standard round bath rugs are about 30″ across.
Warnings: Cutting up the socks may give you sore hands. Working the sock yarn rug may give you sore hands. Little fragments of sock lint will get everywhere.
Upcycle quotient: throwing away only the heel and toe instead of the whole sock.
stash mosh 