Saturday, April 18, 2009

Darn It!!
by Vickie
I have been knitting socks for about 3-5 years. Twice now I have had this happen...These socks were blogged about here. They haven't made it two years yet which is disappointing to me, but I decided that repairing them would be cheaper and teach me something. I have never darned a sock before. Since I didn't have anyone to ask when I was ready to fix the hole, I went here to check out a video to learn how to do this.

I got a nice man who is part of a working club to make me this to use for my first effort at sock darning. I was trying to describe to him what I could remember from the internet as a darning egg with some sort of a handle. This is what he produced. I was very happy with it. It worked well for my first effort.
Then I started to darn my sock. I should have watched the video before darning because in the video it said to turn the sock inside out and I remembered that after I was more than half way finished. I just kept going and figured that I could chalk it up to yet another learning experience.

I thought a Chibi would do well for darning. After making several passes and not being able to "dig" the needle into the wood to catch the yarn, I changed to a more appropriate needle.
This is the view inside out. It doesn't look very pretty but it is fixed.
I am hoping that the next sock where I wear a hole in the ball of the foot, I can do a much nicer looking job with my repair. It's always good to learn something new and then to hone that skill. I have to say, I really never wanted to learn how to darn a sock but after paying at least $16 for a ball of sock yarn, it's cheaper to repair it than it is to throw them away and start all over. I am hoping to learn how to reinforce the balls of my socks so that I don't have to do this very often. Has anyone got some better ideas how to prevent the holes in the ball of a sock? Please share!








5 comments:

Tracy Batchelder said...

I'm not sure why, but I've never worn a hole in my hand knit socks...yet.

Tina T-P said...

I have worn holes in a lot of cotton socks and have just mended them with thread - sounds like I need to watch that darning video LOL - Your new yellow socks are so springy - I'll bet they will make you smile when you wear them :-) T.

vlb5757 said...

The socks in the post are Tofutsies. I think I must be really hard on the balls of my socks. So I am going to have to reinforce more than just the toe. I hate the thought of wearing out all my socks! The are not cheap and they take me about ten days to knit. I have to say that I have gotten spoiled wearing wool socks.

Anonymous said...

I'm still waiting for my first hole in a handknit sock. Wait, no. Bryce did wear out his cotton socks (cotton candy from Blue moon. I think). He was wearing them twice a week, with and without shoes. The whole was right where yours was, and he walks extremely hard on the balls of his feet. They boy wears holes into all his shoes, he wears out shoes in 6 months! Maybe the socks that are wearing through have something to do with the fiber content. The majority of my socks are 100% merino or a merino/nylon blend.
btw, great job with the darning! I have a darning egg that I love to use for Kitchenering, but a lightbulb will work in a pinch.

vlb5757 said...

Amanadacathleen, I did such a sloopy job at darning but I did learn to watch that video before I take it on again. It was a learning moment. I have worn them since then and they are fine. I thought it would bother my foot but it didn't. I guess I will be darning a lot of socks on the ball because this is the second pair that has happened to. At least I know now. My wool socks seem to wear better than the softer blends. I have heard that a lightbulb will work but I am would be afraid that my grip would cause it to break. I am not a delicate person. lol!