Do I know how to waste a beautiful afternoon? Why yes. Yes I do.

As I once mentioned, apparently years ago, we now have "summer hours" at our company, which - as explained by the extremely complicated math, in the linked post - means that I was foot loose (HA! Hopefully you'll make the connection soon!) and fancy free at 11 am this morning.

You would think, what with all this free time, on a gorgeous, not too hot afternoon, it would have been the perfect afternoon to spend picking weeds (it would have, but I did not - why labor in the beautiful weather? My future self will kick me for this, I just know it) or some other fabulous pursuit.  It would have also been the perfect day to sit on the back porch and read; something I also did not do.

No...today I determined was the PERFECT day to spend inside on a ridiculous task...creating a prototype of a toe cover.

What is a toe cover you are asking?  And why did I need a prototype?

Because I used to be able to walk into any Target and pick up these particular toe covers (which are worn with shoes when you aren't wearing socks or nylons with closed toe shoes)...

These toe covers?  Have disappeared from store shelves across the land.  I wish I was kidding.  These things are perfect.  Rarely do they peek out from your shoes - unlike their unfortunate cousin, the "liner sock."  Also, they don't slip off and flap around in your shoe like their unfortunate cousin.  No, these suckers stay on your toes, don't show (usually) and keep your feet dry inside your shoes.  In a word?  PERFECTION!

But, as I stated, have disappeared.  Yes, I've searched Amazon with a billion different key words for the past TWO years; all to no avail.  Which is why I needed to work on a prototype today.  So I spent the majority of the afternoon hand stitching a prototype - which no picture, because it looks like a hastily stitched hot mess because I was too lazy to drag out my machine; and I can assure you it was NOT hastily stitched - in vain hopes of creating something that might fill this void in my life.

After slaving over this "tiny" project for a couple of hours - in a fit of pique - I searched Amazon one last time only to find?

Are you freaking kidding me!?  Fingers crossed that they are exactly like the original ones

Needless to say - I quickly ordered two sets (six pairs total) and have kept the prototype and the pattern...just in case they disappear again.  Because, I am happy to report, the prototype?  It works - at least in the initial trial run.  And it's good to have that knowledge in my back pocket in the event these things go missing again.