Sock shrinking

I have been having some trouble with the shrinking of my socks, or perhaps with the swelling of my feet. New socks are fine, but after a few washes they are not fine.

BH was not taking this problem seriously, but, quite by chance, it has been legitimised by being the subject of a correspondence in the DT. It seems that this is a perfectly serious & sensible senior complaint and we are now discussing permutations and options. Perhaps the answer is hand wash only. I associate to the tea problems noticed, for example, at reference 1.

In the meantime, I had been mulling over the possibility of making a sock stretcher and I had thought about buying one of those wooden feet you used to keep shoes in - there having being a pair of same in the Tavistock Pannier Market last week. But yesterday, I was prompted to use one of the bits of timber which had been lying around in the garage for years in case it came in for something to make a stretcher, with the results illustrated - and more by luck than judgement it seems to work quite well.

The only catch is that there is a bit of a shake at the narrow end, which may open out, now that the stretcher is in the house rather than in the garage. I have applied some traditional furniture polish - a white oily stuff, a bit like a greasy yoghourt in texture - which may slow drying out.

Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/kitchen-life.html.