The joy of sock poi

This is a bit of a shameful admission...
(god, it feels like the intro to a Poi Anonymous meet)

I've been playing poi for two years... and I still haven't mastered the hyperloop/chain-twist-then-untwist move.

My big ol' heavy dogchains just ended up spinning at chaotic speeds, usually finishing their demented spin by hitting me in the face...

I've been lurking in homeofpoi forums for a good while now, and someone always mentions the benefit of sock poi... of course, I thought I knew best... cos it's always best to get used to the weight of your firepoi, right?!!

Ahem... no. Yesterday, for the first time (!!!), I made up some sock poi, and... managed a fairly nice hyperloop straight off!!!! Wayhey, joy and delight...

Course, I then spent the rest of the afternoon kicking myself round the garden for not trying it sooner... lol. I reckon with a bit more refining, and now I know the basics, I might even get it with my chains...

Just wanted to y'know... share
Take care xoxo

Yep, sock poi are where it's at. Once you've got something figured out with sock poi it'll be easier to carry it over to chains, tails & whatever.

You in Belfast? LAst autumn I spent about 4 months in Belfast - only met 2 poi spinners, lovely people. So either I know you or you missed out on learning airwraps back in autumn. Oh well.

speaking of sockpoi mr dom...

do you have any more white material/time to sew yet?

Sock Poi haven't really made a huge appearance here in the southern part of the states...

Mand gave me her Sock Poi back in February, and I show them to people, and they instantly want to know how to make a pair. One of my friends, who I taught, made a pair of his own, making them a wee bit heavier than my set.

I definitely am a fan...though they are rather hot to use during the summer....make your hands all sweaty and stuff. erg.

Fortunately (or not ), hot, sweatiness is not something to be concerned with here in Belfast
It's more like rain, sleet, hailstones, snow and other forms of precipitation intent on spoiling your day

i too have just discovered the joy of sock poi....i offered to teach some kids poi and in my quest to find suitable poi for 6 year olds(!!!?)why oh why did they give me the year ones..........i made some up and t'was a revelation!

Yep...

Starting to see more socks up here in the North West...
Elasticity helps with the hyperloops'n'stuff...

Using water-balloons for weights...good for weight adjustment, and doesn't quiet hurt like them more solid things...

And kinda neat contrast to fire, eh?

bl

Have you you guys been making your sock poi? I used my mates the other night and decided to make some but mine still dont feel quite the same. x

sock poi were my first pair of poi i had, coz when i first heard of poi spinning, i didnt know where to get them, coz there isnt a place here where i live. But, the first mistake i made was putting rocks in them . so i instantly ended up with a couple of bumps on my fore head

Sock Poi? Sounds British.

Naw... Glass got me hooked on them back in the day and I haven't looked back since. I brought a pair back to the US last year and now everybody in New York's got them. I make sure to credit my London influence whenever possible.

I can vouch for that:

I would be miserably sockless if it weren't for NYC.

Thanks, pimp.

I agree that socks are great to spin and quite good to look at but.. but.. but.. I don't like them... *don't hit me...*

dunno it's just that I'm spinning over a year now and have tried sock poi for the first time only a month ago... I'm so used to my homemade tailed poi that there is no other for me..: o) socks are great but... no thank you...

[hitting]

but there's sooooo much more you can do with socks than with tails

[/hitting]


Hey Vix maybe you should look for some made similar to your mates? I found that the differing materials make for very different poi, also try and tune the weight to something more suitable. I don't know where I'd be without sock poi, probably just doing the three thousand weave variations that, rather boringly, all look the same!

All praise the socks

yeah but my socks just stretch loadz!!!! damn topshop! hahaha

If you find they're to stretchy you can always make cone poi from material sewn together. Infact there's diagrams on here to do it somewhere if you dig about. Mie are really old ones of Georges, infact they were her first ever stripee socks from when she was about 14...I'm so privilaged!! They don't stretch too much but after time they'll just stretch out and stop springing so much. Lots of weight quickly spun is a good way to age them a bit quicker

tails are soooooooooo much prettier than sox!!!

I wrote an article recently about Poi (intended for Sugar magazine, a crappy teenage girls magazine) and included instructions on how to make sock poi. My recipe is>>

1) a pair of kids knee socks (they come in nicer colours and dont stretch as far)

2)two hair bands or rubber bands

3)100g of lentils/popcorn/whatever.

Split the lentils equally between each sock, tie down the end with a hair band, and go for yer life.

Easy as falling off a unicycle.

I love my sock poi.
They're great for spinning in more confined spaces, where tails aren't practical. They're also a lot easier than tails for learning stuff.

I've just finished working at a outdoor adventure centre for kids. We all live on site, so I often end up with kids watching practice spinning and juggling. Loads of them want to try it, so I hand out my sock poi. That way I don't have to worry about getting into trouble for the kids hurting themselves!

tails are a pain but they look so pretty!