You know that apparently worldwide phenomenon about clothes dryers ‘eating’ single socks? Well, I think it’s contagious – and it mutates.

We bought our first new vehicle in thirty years last summer… it’s a beautiful Ford F150:

The culprit. Beautiful, with a little streak of evil.

So everything was going along just fine for several months.  Then one day, as I headed the few miles into town to the store,  I slipped my iPod out of its handspun, hand-knitted sock and put the sock in the console.  I plugged in the iPod to pick up where I left off on my audio book.  So far, so good.  Now fast forward just a bit; I pull in the drive and disconnect the iPod.  But wait – where’s its sock?

Rainbow iPod sock... the first victim.

I searched high and low for that thing.  It wasn’t a great work of art, but I’d knitted it from Kool-Aid dyed yarn that I’d spun and Navajo-plied during the state fair demonstration last year.  It’s not bad for ‘demonstration yarn’, and I rather liked it.  I have no idea how it could have been lost so completely in a dark pickup interior, but there it was.  Actually, there it wasn’t!

After a few weeks of sporadic looking, I gave up and started knitting a new one.  For this one, I used most of the background colors from my Ithilien Brocade Jacket, holding two strands together and changing colors one strand at a time for a more gradual color shift.  When it was finished, I found the perfect glass button. This one pleased me as much as the last one.  (I’m easily pleased.)

8-color iPod sock - gone, but not forgotten!

Then one day, as I headed the few miles into town to the store,  I slipped my iPod out of its hand-knitted sock and put the sock in the console.  I plugged in the iPod to pick up where I left off on my audio book.  So far, so good.  Now fast forward just a bit; I pull in the drive and disconnect the iPod.  But wait – where’s its sock?

Aaack!!  That’s crazy!

And now, the real kicker.  After a few days of fruitless searching, I asked my DH if he had seen it.  Well, no, but – “Hey, is this yours?” and he holds up the FIRST sock!

He said he’d found it a while back in one of the door pockets,  but *I* think the truck spit it back up after it ate the second one.  And it looks more faded and worn than the last time I had it, too…

<She exits, humming the theme to “Twilight Zone”>