Darning egg inside holey sock.
Hand knitted socks are one of life’s small pleasures. Particularly if you have non-standard sized feet, wearing a sock that actually fits the way it is supposed to in a luxurious fiber to boot, is simply heaven. There comes a time in every sock’s life (commercially made or otherwise), however when a hole forms. With a cheap commercial sock it is easy to just toss it out, though some of the more frugal among us may try to sew up the hole. This invariably leaves a pucker in the fabric and makes ill-fitting socks even more uncomfortable. A hand knitted sock is not a commercial sock. A hand knitted sock has taken some soul hours and hours and thousands of stitches to construct. Even with all of this work, there are still those who ascribe to the Yarn Harlot method of standing over the trash and exclaiming ‘Darn Sock’ as one drops the poor knitted dears into the trash.
I cannot bring myself to do this. I am not a prolific knitter who owns a pair of socks for every day of the year, so my precious 7 pairs shall not be subjected to such harsh treatment until they are beyond salvation. Unfortunately, sock darning was not a skill that was taught to me in my early years. So armed with a darning egg, tapestry needle, leftover sock yarn, and my wounded sock I trolled the internet for a guide. What I found is that there are probably as many darning methods as there have been knitters in the world. Some are quite clever, while some I find are not much better than just sewing the hole shut. In this mini-series I will try to outline my favorite darning methods.
So check your closets for any knitwear that needs some freshening up. Find some matching yarn, a needle, and something to use as a darning egg. And old style halogen light bulb works pretty well, so do billiard balls. Part 2 will address how to repair knitwear that is still in the threadbare stage and not quite to the full-blown hole in the heel phase.