Forums > Beginner Poi Moves > The joy of sock poi
Login/Join to ParticipateStill wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
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
Getting to the other side 
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,009 posts
Location: Bristol, UK
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.
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom
speaking of sockpoi mr dom...
do you have any more white material/time to sew yet?
"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood
Mand's Girl....and The Not So Shy One
2,723 posts
Location: Calgary, Alberta Canada
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.
Solitude sometimes speaks to you, and you should listen.
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
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
Getting to the other side
313 posts
Location: london,uk
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!
5 posts
Location: Vancouver
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
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,276 posts
Location: Oxfordshire/Wiltshire, United Kingdom
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
tHeReS gOoD aNd EvIl iN EaCh InDiViDuAl fIrE, iDeNtIfIeS nEeDs AnD fEeDs OuR dEsIrEs.
2 posts
Location: London & Paris
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 -=Beware of artists, they mix with all classes os society and are therefore most dangerous=-
9,232 posts
Location: NYC, NY, USA
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.
Well, shall we go?
Yes, let's go.
[They do not move.]
lurker
194 posts
Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA
I can vouch for that:
I would be miserably sockless if it weren't for NYC.
Thanks, pimp.
Neo - Hippie
358 posts
Location: Sala, Slovakia
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...
Smile.. It confuses people..:)
Wonders never cease as long as you never cease to wonder.
playing the days away
7,263 posts
Location: The Middle lands, United Kingdom
[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
Let's relight this forum 
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,276 posts
Location: Oxfordshire/Wiltshire, United Kingdom
yeah but my socks just stretch loadz!!!! damn topshop! hahaha
tHeReS gOoD aNd EvIl iN EaCh InDiViDuAl fIrE, iDeNtIfIeS nEeDs AnD fEeDs OuR dEsIrEs.
playing the days away
7,263 posts
Location: The Middle lands, United Kingdom
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
Let's relight this forum
406 posts
Location: Oxford, UK
Written by: Vixen
yeah but my socks just stretch loadz!!!! damn topshop! hahaha
I got my socks from TopShop! They're pink!
They stretch a lot, but you get used to it - I find it's best to just tie knots in them at the handle end as they stretch, so you end up with a short poi with a big knot at one end and the weight (tennis balls, probably) at the other. That way you have a nice big handle for throws and suchlike. They do stop stretching so much eventually and they turn out really nice... "Take that, math!"
errrrrr what?
198 posts
Location: cloud 9, United Kingdom
tails are soooooooooo much prettier than sox!!!
I'll come back as fire and burn all the liars and leave a blanket of ashes on the ground.
I could write the new bridget jones diary only mine would be more bizarre, funnier, dirtier more unbelievabe and bloody true!
Fool
2,020 posts
Location: Cornwall, UK
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 believe the cost of life is Death and we will all pay that in full. Everything else should be a gift. We paid the cover charge of life, we were born."
Bill Hicks, February 1988
Keeper of the Spitfire
2,317 posts
Location: Calgary Canada
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!
Lets steal a spaceship and head for the sun, and shoot the stars with a lemonade ray gun.
errrrrr what?
198 posts
Location: cloud 9, United Kingdom
tails are a pain but they look so pretty!
I'll come back as fire and burn all the liars and leave a blanket of ashes on the ground.
I could write the new bridget jones diary only mine would be more bizarre, funnier, dirtier more unbelievabe and bloody true!
Fool
2,020 posts
Location: Cornwall, UK
Not as pretty as fire. And fire doesnt tangle and make the poi hit you in the nuts.
Case closed.
"I believe the cost of life is Death and we will all pay that in full. Everything else should be a gift. We paid the cover charge of life, we were born."
Bill Hicks, February 1988
errrrrr what?
198 posts
Location: cloud 9, United Kingdom
not as pretty as fire by far.......... so pretty yet so dangerous oh i luv it!
I'll come back as fire and burn all the liars and leave a blanket of ashes on the ground.
I could write the new bridget jones diary only mine would be more bizarre, funnier, dirtier more unbelievabe and bloody true!
playing the days away
7,263 posts
Location: The Middle lands, United Kingdom
tails are prettier than socks?? Not my socks lady! Mine glow in the dark too cuz they're special like me
Although UV tails do look pretty damn kewl Let's relight this forum
errrrrr what?
198 posts
Location: cloud 9, United Kingdom
I'll come back as fire and burn all the liars and leave a blanket of ashes on the ground.
I could write the new bridget jones diary only mine would be more bizarre, funnier, dirtier more unbelievabe and bloody true!
64 posts
Location: West Midlands, UK
I bought adult socks for my sock poi... I don't mind the stretchiness since I have long arms... just one question.........
How do I keep them on my arms?
Al
Look at me twirl my pretty rainbow poi in my rainbowhat with my rainbow earings and my rainbow top etc.....
Keeper of the Spitfire
2,317 posts
Location: Calgary Canada
Wrap the ends of the socks round your hands, until you have the length you want.
Et voila!
Spin to your heart content!
Lets steal a spaceship and head for the sun, and shoot the stars with a lemonade ray gun.
529 posts
Location: Body in Seattle - soul still in bristol :)
Hmm, i prefer knots .. cos then you can do throws.. but i always used to just wrap them round my hands
Mike
playing the days away
7,263 posts
Location: The Middle lands, United Kingdom
I've never wrapped round my hand cuz yeah like Mike says you can't do throws but it's a goot place to start.
Let's relight this forum
6,650 posts
Yes - I admitit: after making jokes of all the "french socks" I'm becoming a "sockie" too... It's just sooooooooooooooooo nice to play with them...
I love my socks the best smiles are the ones you lead to 
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
I'm slightly over my sock addiction now... have moved on to flags and cones... but socks still rock for wibbles
Getting to the other side
HOP's glowstick ambassador!!
128 posts
Location: Bay Area, California, USA
I've been putting off sock poi for ages as well. I've recently met some poists here who can do some pretty impressive tangly stuff and I'm really interested, its about time I picked up a pair.
Thanks for the input!
missegyptology: "I just remember beingall off balance and unicycling really fast down to campus and the arabic was all blurred on the page"
^When Linz pulls an all nighter before Arabic class^
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