Stitching and blogging have gotten short shrift lately as the land draws us outside to weed (me) and plant (Don). At the end of the day I don’t have the energy I need to create, so I’ve been mending instead.
I actually documented a recent session because I had one of those head-slap brainstorms that made it worthwhile. The backstory is that my mom gave me a really neat sock darning tool years ago, which I never used. And can no longer find.
It finally occurred to me that I could improvise by using part of an old nesting fruit toy (a take-off on nesting dolls) …
It was just the right size for my sock heel …
And it even worked on the dreaded break-through heel hole …
Fun, right?
I'm Going to Texas (version 2.0) 
Wow, the close up of the weave of the sock is fascinating! I don’t know that I look at my socks so closely! Great improvising 🙂
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Nancy – I wasn’t a mending fan in my working world days (who had the time?) … but now my daughters roll their eyes when our grandkids bring them hole-y socks with the request to “give it to Nana”
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I learned to use that sock gourd in girl scouts. It IS fun!
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Grace – girl scouts … much as I liked being a part of that, I don’t recall any fiber activities
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wow I’m impressed whenever I have tried to mend socks they just get all lumpy and unwearable!
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Mo – these are among my favorite socks, so I was determined to make them wearable!
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How fun! I love the pink and white patch on socky gray.
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Dana – Ha! Looks like I achieved my goal of making the mend as visible as possible!
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Hi LA – sounds like your life on your block is a lot like ours. Many weeds to be attended to and new structures to build – but all part of the life of an artist? Very cool darning on those socks. B
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Barry – As I read this, I am about to head outside to join Don on the land … to call it a yard or a garden doesn’t quite fit. And as I have come to love mending, so too I now love weeding. Happy days!
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My mom had a wooden egg that she used to shelp her do her mending. I don’t know where it went sure wish I had it. I’m not a great one for mending but do so with little finesse I might add. When our daughter lived and worked in Turkey, she gave us 2 lovely pillow covers, dark green with intricate embroidery on the front and a plain almost flannel blue cloth on the back where the zipper is located. The front cloth feels like silk and after many years, one of the edges has loosened and needs to be mended…it will be a hard task for me to do neatly so I have put it in a drawer, out of sight, out of mind…maybe one day, I will get my stitching courage up and go for it!
Your sock weaving mending is terrific, nothing like wearing a bit of art on your feet!
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Marti – my mom had a darning egg, too … and knitted argyle socks for my dad … all long gone except for the memory of them
I just ordered a book entitled “Visible mending” and will be sure to post a review on the blog if it turns out to be worthwhile. I do hope you will pull the pillow cover(s) out of the drawer sooner rather than later …
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