Darn!

After accomplishing the grand feat of cleaning and organizing my stash, I was ready to get back to knitting and crocheting. I do love my fiber crafts and I use them to keep me calm in the stressful times and there is nothing more stressful than unemployment and a slow job search. But before allowing myself to dive into the stash to pick out a new project or even allowing myself to pick up an in-process project, I had to revisit my growing pile of socks that need darning of some kind. Darn!



I took a darning class about 3 years ago at Stitches South and I had yet to actually use the skills that I had learned. And with the variety of fixes that need to be made, I’m probably going to put everything I learned to the test. I pulled out some gray wool to mend with. This yarn is felt-able, which is key to the process.The pink socks are the very first pair of socks that I knit and they have done nothing but get softer and warmer over time. I know it’s not really possible to get warmer, but cut my nostalgic heart a little slack. These are my favorites. The others are not as special when all is said and done, but I do love having hand knit socks and I’m not willing to sacrifice any of them--at least not yet.



The two pair above were easy to fix. Using a darning egg and a lot of patience, they are mended and back in rotation. The holes on the pink socks are clearly products of wear as I have lovingly worn these socks for years. That other pair is a mystery to me. I just finished these socks a few months ago. As a matter of fact, I blogged their finishing here. I doubt I was able to wear these three times before a hole sprouted on the side of the foot. The side! I am going to completely blame this on the yarn and not on my construction abilities. That’s the version of the story that I’m sticking to, you will not change my mind.



Now, this sock is a little different. The hole itself is easy enough to fix, but there is a problem. I machine wash all of my socks. This is not a problem for most of the sock yarns on the market so don’t let this keep you from machine washing your own. But, please make sure you are careful with what you washed your socks with. This pair inadvertently got washed with a really fuzzy set of bath towels that I absolutely hate. That fuzz has worked its way into the lacy pattern of the sock and made the cuff section of the sock incredibly stiff. The result is that I would have to stretch the sock entirely too much to get it over my foot, hence the making of the hole. Really, I should probably find another use for these socks--I thought about making them into fingerless gloves but they are such cute socks. Needless to say, I have not made a decision and these will need to go back into consideration for the day when I am a more skilled knitter. The instructor of the darning class I attended would cut the entire cuff section off and knit a new one, but I am not that dedicated to these socks.And then what yarn would I use?



These Noro socks are just as much a mystery to me. Those are actually holes, but areas where the yarn is so thin that it’s easy to be poked through so the area is stretching out. Again, I am not a skilled enough darner to fix these as the yarn is so thin and the areas curving around the toe. It almost seems like poking through the darning yarn will do more damage than good. I’ll have to think on these a little more as well.

So, my darning adventures only led me to getting two pairs off socks back into rotation, but I will consider that good enough to free me into more yarn crafts. In the meantime, I would love to hear from you knitters out there on how you would repair/remake the socks that I am not brave enough to tackle yet. Thoughts?