darn it (part 2)

9/1/22
Nice to see you, I take it you have tuned in for an exciting update on my holey socks ?
This is the condition one of my socks was in you can read about it here

I spent an evening working on it, first by needlefelting some yarn on to it…

and then adding some handstitching to it..

I am wearing the pair of them today and shall see how they fare.
I’m hoping that wearing them will further felt the patches and make them denser and more hardwearing.
If they get more holes I will try something else
I shared them in a Facebook mending group and someone called them my “research socks” 🙂

11/1/22
So far so good, I wore them for 2 days, then washed them and they are good as new(ly mended) 🙂

And an update on the other pair of socks…

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My first attempt with the Speedweve was on one of these socks, in hindsight not a great idea, I should have had a practice run first, on something not so precious. I didn’t make the weaving big enough to be attached to the sock, so I tried needlefelting it to make it more secure, but the sock is cotton, not wool, so it didn’t work very well. Bit of a darning disaster , really.
Tonight I had another go at it, I added a row of stitching round the outside which will hopefully attach the weaving to the sock.
I hae ma doots though so I’ll probably have to do more work after I wear it.

I tried a different technique for the other sock.

I found a bit of a wooly jumper/sweater that I had previously boil washed so the wool had felted. I used the cut out heel as a template and cut out the same shape from the wool, but I made it a bit larger.

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I did a row of zigzag stitch on my sewing machine round the edge of the hole I cut in the sock. Again, I forgot to take a photo.
I pinned the woolly patch to the sock and did a row of tacking stitch to hold it in place.

I’m happier with this one than the other, I’ll wear them for a couple of days and get back to you. Isn’t this exciting!
Well, isn’t it?

13/1/22

2/3/22
So the socks above all remain in action after numerous wears and washes.
No further work needed on them 🙂

My next darning adventure has been this handknitted 100% silk cardigan. I got it on ebay and wore the heck out of it until the oxters* disintegrated.

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I don’t know what I did to them but they both ended up with holes I could fit my foot through.

I posted a photo in a Facebook group for mending enthusiasts and asked for advice on how to mend them.
Unfortunately I didn’t wait for any responses to come in, I thought, och I’ll just give it a go, stitching up a hole, how difficult can that be? So I did, and it worked, there was no longer a hole.

However , when I tried it on it was far too tight and distorted. Harrumph.
Then I read the replies to my question and wished I’d waited.
Someone suggested I do a running stitch around each hole , then try on the cardigan and draw the ends of the thread together until the hole is the correct size, then knot them to secure. Like this..

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So I cut open the seam that I had just sewn together…

and I cut a patch, just slightly larger than the hole, out of some wool from my stash.
I stitched around it’s edge on my overlocker/serger .

I then used my sewing machine to stitch the patch to the cardigan.
Hopefully the stitching I did around the edge of the hole will stop it shredding any further.

I did the same to the other one after cutting the rough edges off.
I did a few rows of zigzag stitch around the raw edge to strengthen it.

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Admittedly it’s not the mostle subtle mend , but it makes it wearable again, and equally importantly : washable – I’ve been scared to wash it in case it completely disintegrated, but it’s soaking in the sink as we speak.

Next on the mending agenda is a friend’s moth bitten tweed trousers that have been living in my freezer for a month or so. I think anything living in them will be dead now, so it’s safe to take them out, and even outside the freezer it’s probably too cold for any eggs to survive. By the way don’t worry Norm, I’m going to make the mends less obvious than my oxters*!
*Scottish word for armpits