any ideas what a bunch of single white socks can be used for?
like everyone, I have lost many socks’ partners. I am left with many single white socks that are a little tighter, a little longer than any other sock. I’ve held on to them in hopes their partner will resurface, but I have given up.
I hate to throw things out.
any ideas what I could use em for?
Single cotton socks are very useful for dusting furniture and cleaning windows and mirrors.
If you have a cat and a garden, grow catnip, then stuff the sock with fresh-cut catnip and tie a knot in it. You may want to then turn it inside out and tie another knot so there’s a double layer of sock between the cat and the catnip – Elvis gnaws his way through to “the good stuff” pretty quickly.
If you have a cat or a dog, pull the sock over the pet’s head. Let them wander around aimlessly with it on. Giggle helplessly. Pull the sock off and praise the pet as a good boy or girl.
if they’re all white then just wear them as odd pairs - as long as you are wearing trousers people aren’t going to notice.
In my house, when we have mismatched socks, we wear them.
lno: we’re talking SMALL dogs, right? I don’t think my friends with the Rottweilers would have so much fun with this plan…
Mostly they seem to show up on the SDMB.
Seriously, old socks are excellent for spreading stain or varnish. I usually put on a latex glove and then put the sock over that.
Here’s a simple little idea, if you’re into sewing and artsy-craftsy stuff: You can use socks to make nifty little ragdoll bodies.
Starting at the toe, cut the sock up the middle - a little more than halfway - then sew each half shut to make legs (the uncut part is the doll’s torso).
Stuff the body with cotton batting, sew on a couple little arms (you can make them out of part of another sock, thus ridding yourself of not one but two lonelies!).
You can make the doll’s head out of whatever you want; cloth, clay, wood, etc., depending on what the finished product is going to be used for (e.g., is it going to be decorative, or a plaything?).
Make the doll a cute little costume out of colorful fabric remnants, ribbon and the like, and you’re all done. Yay!
Thanks lovelies!
I would wear mixed matched socks… if it wasn’t for this bizarre OCDish like thingie of mine.
Both sides have to even. IF one sock was longer, thicker, tighter than the other… IT WOULD DRIVE ME CRAZY. I would be completely distracted from the outside world… and totally obsessed with my uneveness.
My suggestion, then, is to sew the socks into decorative potholders while you’re waiting to see the psychiatrist.
I use 'em for cleaning, polishing, scrubbing, stuffing of other things, kitty toys, etc. I am much the same as MissBungle with the gotta-have-matching-socks thing. Even though no one can see them, if they feel different, I’m incapable of wearing them.
I have to second what Finagle said. 
On the theme of sock crafts, I found these sock doggies, which are kinda cute.
You know, if they’re lonely socks (as specified in the OP), maybe we should start a dating service.
Rice Sock: Get cheapest rice you can find at grocery store. Fill sock with rice. Tie knot at open end to keep rice in. (Disclaimer: This does not work if sock has holes!) When you have tired, sore muscles: nuke rice sock in microwave for a few minutes. Use as hot compress to relieve aches & pains. Rice stays hot for about 15-20 minutes, feels great!
2nd Disclaimer: Do not use around newly adopted, unsocialized, rescued Boston Terriers! My new boy found my rice sock, chewed it open and sprayed rice throughout my house. Then he proceeded to eat about half the rice… and pooped rice all over my house for the next few days! YMMV, but at least my dog has the cleanest colon in the South!
We have a cat so all our odd socks are used to clean up cat vomit. Place sock over hand, spray BACK OF WRIST with water/carpet cleaner, scoop up pile of vomit, scrub floor with back of wrist, peel sock off your hand and dispose, go back to bed cussing the cat.
When I was kid I used to cut socks up and make this faux fingerless gloves… I don’t know why, it was cool when I was in elementary school.
Put them under your regular socks to have nice warm feet in the winter. What? You didn’t think you could wear two pairs?
Take precautions to make sure they don’t register here!! 
Seriously, odd white sox make excellent rags for polishing brass and silver – our church keeps about three grocery bags full of them for polishing altarware and other fittings, and we’re a fairly modern church with less than the normal amount of brass and silver. If you can’t use them for that or for the other ideas people have advanced here, offer them to any church for that purpose.
Now, if you have odd White Sox, join a fantasy baseball league, and trade them for Chipper Jones, Curt Schilling, and a player to be named later!
They´re cute, and it´s a good deed, too!
Excellent ambassador of…well, grape jelly really. But there is a certain satisfaction to whirling an open sock, turgid with jelly and letting it loose into a high arc. It soars over rooftops and possibly parked cars and delivers your purple message with a mighty splat. Kind of a lifesize Pollock thing…