kareina

The concept of "shopping" really consists of three components. #1 is Buying. This is when you know what it is you want, and where to get it. You go there (either in person or on line), you choose the thing(s) you want, you pay for it, you take it home. You and the merchant are both happy. #2 is Research. You know what you want, but you have no idea who sells it, or if it is even available. Therefore you need to guess and try a variety of locations, either in the real world, or on line, in hopes that someone carries what you want. #3 is Browsing. This is when you aren't looking for any specific item, but just want to know what is available for sale, so you wader around, either in a real store, or on line, and have a look.

People who do #3 for pleasure find #2 easier.

Sadly, it doesn't often happen that I have time/energy to do #3. Once in a great while we will stop in at a second hand store to see if there is anything interesting, and, when we do, we nearly always find something useful, and, often, we wind up buying it. However, far more often, it is #2 that I need to do--I know what I want, but I don't know where to get it. Sometimes this is easy. My university no longer has its own bookstore, but instead students order their textbooks on line. When I took my intro to Swedish course when I first moved here the teacher gave me the name of the text book I needed, I asked Google, and in a few days the book arrived in the mail. More often this is a painful process fraught with frustration. I know that manufactures have, at some point in the past, made for mass-market sale socks made of 100% cotton, in solid black color, that are ankle length. I know this, because I am wearing some right now. However, all of mine have worn holes through the heel that have become large enough to make them uncomfortable, and I am now wearing out the three pairs that lord_kjarhad that also met this description.

Since they exist (or have), I thought it should be easy to find more. However, it is not! The last time I found any for sale was at an outdoor market in Australia, which I went to with vikingrose in July of 2011. The merchant there sold them in packs of 10, and, since I had international flights to get home again, I bought only one bag. Now I wish I had bought 50 bags. Every clothing store I have entered since that time carries socks that meet some, but not all of those criteria, and I am not willing to compromise on any of these points. I have, on a number of occasions since then, tried to find such socks on line, but, again, no one seems to be willing to sell me what I want. If I didn't mind 15% synthetic fiber there are lots of options. If I wanted socks that go half way up my calf, I would be fine. If I wanted them in white, or some other colour combination, I would be good. But I haven't been able to find exactly what I want, and I am not interested in anything else.

I had a suggestion from aelfgyfu that I just make my own, but, damn it, I haven't got time to work on the many projects in progress I have already--I haven't time to make socks, too. and, given how easily the heels wear out when one runs around the house wearing socks without shoes (which I do, and will not stop doing), I would have to spend all of my creative time trying to finish the next pair before last pair died, and then I would never have a new SCA costume...

all I want to do here is #1--I want to give someone money so that I can have happy, sock covered, feet again. If anyone is inspired to do #2 for me, and provide me with contact details for someone who will really sell me the 100% cotton black ankle socks, feel free. However, please do not (as someone did on FB) give me the link to web pages which come up on a search for those key words and expect me to look through their many choices--in my experience such web pages don't, actually, carry what I want, but they make it difficult to quickly determine this fact, so lots of time is wasted.

Edited to add: Thanks to the kindness of aelfgyfu I now have several links to socks that look like they will work. I have already emailed one of the merchants to ask about shipping to Sweden, and will follow through on the others later, but now I should do some work...