Sock Helper

Sock helpers are aids for people who have restricted flexiblilty, and who have difficulty putting on socks. Putting on socks is something that most of us take for granted, but think of someone who has restricted range of motion. For him or her putting on socks could be quite a challenge.

I raided the toboggan shed and took an old plastic carpet sled to use in this Instructable. If you don't have one handy in your toboggan shed, you could buy one for a very reasonable price at a department or hardware store.

Step 1: Equipment and Tool Used

Materials:

One of these plastic sleds you see in the top picture.

Equipment:

I cut it with the flat cutting tip of a soldering iron. You could try some other method if you don't have one of these handy or if you don't like the smell of melting plastic.

Pattern:

The pattern files provided with this step are in two different formats. One is a .png file that should show in the picture above. The second (below) is in .svg format (I drew it in Inkscape and include the file in case you would like it in Inkscape format). I wanted the patterns to fit on standard letter paper (8 1/2 x 11 inch size) for convenient printing - so this is a half pattern. The full pattern would not fit on that size paper. To be sure you are getting the right size, you can compare the pattern image to the size of an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. When you print and trace around the shape and then flip it over and trace again, you will have the full pattern that you can cut out of the plastic sled.

Finishing:

Once you have cut the plastic, check the sides for any sharp edges that could catch in the sock material. Clean them with sandpaper, or the soldering iron, or some other means.

Then attach a ribbon or cord and your sock helper is finished.

Step 2: How Does It Look?

That is a commercial sock helper in the first picture above.

The second picture is the home-made version.

Step 3: How to Use It

Bend the sock helper so that you can put a sock on it. Now put your foot in the sock helper, pull the cord and the helper should come out of the sock, leaving the sock on your foot.

Bonus:
There will be extra plastic sled material left over. Now that you have destroyed your sled, you could use the remnant in some other interesting project, and post it on Instructables.