Since my method seems a little different from the others posted, I
thought I'd take a stab at explaining it. Some of this comes from
books, some from posts on Fibernet, some I 'unvented' as I gained
experience--probably nothing new in my methods.
First thing: Inspect socks regularly--ie, every time you (or your SO)
put them on! A tiny one stitch hole is so much easier to fix than a
gaping 20 stitch hole (yes, I've repaired both :) I've learned to
reinforce areas that look thin (you can see skin through the fabric of
the sock) before they have a chance to actually break. Much easier!
Yarn I use: If I have spun the yarn for the sock, and put some effort
into making it a quality sock yarn and it wore reasonably well, then I
use that yarn for darning, too. I usually have enough left, stored in a
little chest. If I didn't spin the yarn for the sock, then I either use
the same commercial yarn to mend it, or I substitute better quality
handspun. No sense, I found, in mending a sock with the same yarn if it
is one that needs mending frequently :) Mending over a mend is doable,
not that tough, but not my most fun way to spend several hours.
Get yourself a darning egg, mushroom like Sara described, or as someone
suggested last time I posted about darning socks, a light bulb. Place
it in the sock, centered under the hole. Stretch the knit fabric
slightly over the egg.
If the hole is more than maybe 3 stitches by 3 rows, it's a good idea to
use a contrasting sewing thread to make a framework to hold the stitches
you're going to be remaking over the hole.
Starting at the side of the hole, secure the sewing thread lightly, and
pass it from the bottom of the hole to the top. Skip over one stitch
width, and make another pass from top to bottom. Keep repeating this
until the entire hole has single threads running up and down between
each pair of stitches. Try to keep these threads at the same tension as
the rest of the fabric when slightly stretched. If they wobble about,
it won't work as well. Secure the end and proceed.
Thread a tapestry (blunt) needle with up to maybe a yard of yarn--you
can use more, but it might be a pain to manage as you stitch. Starting
several stitches away from the worn area, and at least two rows below it
(at least the first row of stitches should all be over sound yarn--two
rows if the yarn is fine), start working duplicate stitch over the knit
fabric.
To do this (a skill I didn't have until I started to mend socks :), pick
a point to bring up the needle tip from inside to outside. Then look
carefully at the V shape of the stitch you're at the bottom of. Pass
the point of the needle behind the V point just above that stitch, then
out again. Pull the yarn through. Now pass the point of the yarn back
into the fabric where it *first* came out, at the point of the bottom of
this first stitch, and bring it out again at the point at the bottom of
the next stitch over. Right handed people can do this easiest right to
left, Left handed people probably left to right.
You've just 'duplicated' one knit stitch. As you keep moving through
the row, you'll find you develop a rhythym and it goes much faster.
This part can be soothing, good preparation for attacking the hole :)
Watch your tension. You want your duplicated stitches to be nearly as
possible the same size as the original stitches.
At the end of the row, going several stitches past the worn area, turn
so you're working upside down, still right to left for right handers,
left to right for left handers.
The motion is a bit different since you're working upside down, but you
now have the previous row to help guide your stitches. When your needle
passes behind the V to come out again, make sure it goes into and out of
the loops of the tops of the previous stitches. This will make more
sense when you actually try it.
Keep doing this back and forth. When you get to an actual gap in the
stitches, you will understand the pattern that each stitch follows, and
you will be able to 'fake' the stitches needed in that area. Tension is
important. Don't pull too tightly, or the stitches will pop out. Don't
stitch too loosely, or they will be huge when you're done, distorting
the area considerably.
If you have a large hole and you have those vertical lines of sewing
threads, you will see that your needle will pass behind a pair of
threads to make the top portion of a stitch when there's not the V point
of another stitch above it to go behind instead. I find this helps to
keep the stitches I'm remaking from pulling out or getting messed up by
the time I come back in the next row.
Some folks recommend trimming the worn areas away from the edges of the
hole. I've been too chicken to do that :) I leave the worn areas alone
to help guide my needle as much as possible.
When you have finished the row that reconnects with the kntting at the
top of the hole, keep going at least two more rows.
I start and end every piece of yarn to the side of the darned area, by
working duplicate stitch several times, ending the yarn on the inside of
the sock with at least an inch long tail. I find this keeps the yarn
end quite secure.
Using this method does make a little thicker area on the sock than
weaving back and forth as Sara and some websites describe. I find it's
not a problem. I don't notice the thicker area after one or two wears,
and if I used the same yarn, the darn is quite unnoticeable after that.
It is probably slower than weaving, but I like it better.
All this works on gloves, too. I've made repairs in two pair of
commercial gloves; my handspun gloves haven't needed it, but I do treat
them more gently :) Then my dh tore a big, jagged hole in an old pair
of Army wool glove inserts (they go inside leather shells). I used
olive green (what else? <g>) sock yarn to knit a patch which I sewed in
place. Not elegant, but works :) The gauge of those gloves was just
too small, and the hole too large in number of stitches, for me to cross
my eyes trying to mend as I've written here.
Holly
with several hours' mending in the last week alone--good way to use TV
time :)
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