Washing socks

At the weekend I washed my socks and gloves.

Before everyone keels over in horror at the smell, this is something that happens most weekends as I wear them for work in the week! (and also why no one at Knit Lincs ever gets to see them as they're usually hanging on a radiator on Saturday afternoons!).
For some reason I took a pic of them drying on the radiator so I thought I'd talk about how well they're wearing after some wearing and washing.
So, from left -to-right we have:

• Fingerless gloves from Southern Cross knitting pattern using leftover Opal handpainted 4ply sock yarn. These get a heck of a bashing at work each week cos it's dirty and there's a lot of carrying, lifting, turning pages, faffing around with ancient bindings that disintegrate all over you etc. So they get washed a lot. And they're wearing well, quite fluffy now but still warm and comfy with no holes or pilling. And they go in the washing machine.
• More fingerless gloves using Fyberspates DK and a Fyberspates pattern. This is the first time I've washed them and they've come out fine. A small amount of fluffing but no pilling in sight. These are handwash only so I tend not to wear them as much for work. Only last week was SO SO SO cold I had to.
• Toe up socks from Lucy Neatby's Cool socks, warm feet using Artyarns Supermerino. I use these as bedsocks cos they're very soft and not long enough to stay up in my boots. They're lovely and soft but pill like mad. I've machine washed them once but now handwash them after dyeing all my underwear purple in the machine with them...
• My first pair of socks! The Opal basic pattern in Magic purple colourway. These are totally fab - just chuck in the machine and they get softer and softer. And are lovely and toasty warm to wear.
• Finally my Broadripple socks using Regia cotton surf. These also wash really well in the machine and come up with amazing softness and stitch definition. They actually improve with washing! Also wearing well, although not as warm as the Opal.

Those are all the socks I now possess. I have made another five pairs:

• Regia stripey which Mum now owns
  
• Sirdar Town & Country in blue which I gave to Jenny.
• My nephew's little socks, using leftover Town & Country 4ply.
  
• Waffle stitch pattern socks for my brother, using Cygnet wool-rich 4ply.
• Socks on 2 circs using Regia Canadian color 4ply for my SIL.

Maybe I should find out how those are all wearing?