Pegging Away

Over the past couple of weeks I have been watching Meet the Amish with the girls. Five Amish teenagers travel to the UK to experience the lives of four different families of teenagers in Britain. The show contrasts and compares the traditional Amish life with the lives of contemporary British teenagers. There are many worthy philosophical discussions we could be having about ideas explored by this very intriguing show, but today we are going to talk about sock hangers. Yes, that useful plastic doodad up above, the one with all the socks pegged to it.

I find these incredibly useful, they save lots of space on the line outside or in. My girls seem to wear a lot of socks. I used to have two sock hangers, which I bought a couple of years ago from a $2 shop. The first one broke last year, the remaining one is losing its pegs, and last week Rosy broke the hanger part, so I can't use it outside anymore or it blows off the line. Now the easy thing to do would be to go to the $2 shop and buy two more... BUT non-recyclable plastic doodads made from a non-renewable resource by someone who was certainly not being paid a living wage, causing who-knows-what pollution and transported half way around the world so I can hang up my socks? I just can't do it anymore, it makes me feel sick to think that every time I buy a plastic doodad I am literally buying a world that I don't want to live in. But I still want to hang up my socks.

So, imagine my joy when I saw sock hangers on the verandah of an Amish house in Meet the Amish, with two little blonde poppets sporting terrible haircuts bringing in the washing with the aid of their little red wagon (yes, apparently Amish boys do help with the housework. When they aren't ploughing something). These sock hangers were fabric-covered wire coat hangers with pegs suspended underneath. Hard to visualise? Luckily the interwebs have come to the rescue, thus:

Now, being the non-sewer that I am, I have considered doing this but just tying on the pegs. But I think they would slide around. I think that unattractive fabric cover is actually functional. I also found this on pinterest with a wooden hanger and eyelet screws, very vintage. So somehow our socks will get hung, hopefully by repurposing something I already own. Send me your clever suggestions:)

And to end, a little wash day treat that I found while hunting for Amish sock hanging solutions. 237 linear feet of washing twice a week? I would use a shopping trolley too..

Edited to add: My mum always reads my blog, although she never comments. This afternoon she sent a text which read: Dear Jo, you know you can peg socks straight onto a coat hanger? Love Mum

There you go. When in doubt, ask your mum.

This is such a brilliant solution. No sewing, no faffing, just reusing all the wire coat hangers I already own. That is a life time's supply of sock hangers, right there in the wardrobe. Thanks Mum:)