RUTH GONZALEZ got the idea for her soothing socks from a co-worker, who gave her a Christmas present: microwavable socks to ease her aches and pains.
The concept stuck with her for more than a decade before Gonzalez began making and handing out her own soothing socks five years ago. “I wanted to do something different,” says Gonzalez, a nurse with the New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department’s Families First program in Roswell.
The long, soft socks, which take less than five minutes to make, are stuffed with millet seed mixed with rice and can be heated or cooled for physical ailments. “When I hear that someone needs some, I’ll work in the evenings and weekends, and my grandbabies help,” says Gonzalez, who has given away more than 500 soothing socks at local markets and health care events.
Gonzalez’s daughter Elissia Hammock, an occupational therapist who works with children in South Carolina, even took a few socks to try with her young patients dealing with anxiety and ADHD. “I’m always looking for stuff that’s weighted and has sensory input,” says Hammock, who lays the socks across laps or shoulders. “They’re just perfect for my little friends.”
Hammock also gave one to her two-year-old son. “He loves wearing it while he’s sitting in the car seat,” she says. “It helps whenever he’s a little antsy. He puts it on himself and just likes to squeeze it.”
Raised in Roswell, Gonzalez is one of 14 children. In 2022, the family lost her brother Daniel to an accidental fentanyl overdose. “We got a phone call early in the morning that they were bringing him into the ER,” she says. “It just knocked us off our feet.”
