darn it (part 1)

04/01/22
First post of the year, so….

to all my readers and subscribers, I really appreciate that you take time to read and comment on my blog, I know it’s a bit more of a chore than just reading a Facebook or Instagram post .
I’ve been dabbling in darning of late, I don’t know how I reached the (over) ripe old age of 57 without darning a sock considering I’ve been wearing mostly Crocs for about 10 years and they are the mortal enemy of sock heels.
I bought one of these dinky objects, called a Speedweeve.

It’s a modern version of an old gadget, you can read about the original here…
https://ragandmagpie.co.uk/blog/how-to-use-a-1940s-speede-weve
You can see a video on how to use the modern version here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOmm8HL5fwY
I had a go at one of these holey Solmate cotton socks

Looks not too bad from the front, but the back was a writhing mass of loose ends, which I failed to take a photo of. I had intended using the ends to stitch further on to the bit of the sock that remained intact, but I took it along to my local Art and Craft Club where we were doing some needle felting.

I brought along some of these wool dryer balls..

and we needle felted and stitched them, to make some Christmas tree decorations.

That gave me the idea to try needle felting on my darned socks.
Maybe pink wasn’t the best colour to go for, it looks a bit pustulant.
I’m going to do more stitching on it. I’ll report back later.

For my 2nd attempt I had another go at needle felting .
Forgot to take a proper “before and after” photo, so here’s a “during and before”

I tried one layer of pre felt (on the left)
and a double layer (on the right)

and I wore them for one day , not with Crocs, I must add, because that would be cruel.
This is them at the end of that day.

The left one was useless…

So I added another couple of layers of prefelt to the front.

And a thicker layer on the back, then I did some stitching…

finishing off with some pink yarn.

The right one wasn’t bad, but needs a bit more help, I will add some more felt, and add some stitching.

Tune in next time for an exciting update on my holey socks !