Handspun Socks

I want to use up more of my stash of handspun, so I am making the January mystery sock (on Ravelry) out of handspun.  The problem, again, is durability. I fulled the yoga socks for last month so hard that they lost their elasticity and became hard to get on and off.

My new idea is that instead of fulling in the washing machine, which makes the whole sock dense and inelastic, I will just full the parts that usually wear out first:  the sole and heel.   That way, the sock top--the part that has to slip over your heel--will still be elastic. In theory.

To do that selective fulling, I need a washboard, so I can full by hand.  Today I found out that my local Ace hardware store could order me a washboard!  It will come next week.  I won't be done with the socks by then--the last clue comes out the last week of January--so I might have to take the washboard with me to Houston in early February. What will the airline suitcase inspectors think?!?  "That poor child:  still washing her clothes on a washboard, in this day and age!"