Re-Purposed Sock Orphans...

First of all, why are they called "orphans"? Orphans have lost their parents. Socks lose their mates and therefore from now on they should be called "sock widows". Or "widowers". This does not explain why socks end up missing no matter how careful you are. But it's bound to happen, so when it does, here's how you turn lemons into lemonade.

Cut your sock into strips, then give each a gentle tug so the edges roll up. That's it. You have just created a small stash of soft elastics perfect for ponytails and lots of other things. I like to use them in place of rubber bands because the don't degrade over time. If you've ever used a rubber band to hold something together only to find later that it has rotted and bonded itself onto whatever it was holding together, you know what I mean. See how I've used it to keep my ribbon from unspooling? Because crusty-rubber-band-ribbon is the worst.