I think it is a dilemma all knitters go through when they get their first hole in their hand-knit socks. Do you darn? I don’t darn my commercial socks when they get holes, but I didn’t put howevermany hours of work into those ones, nor did I spend $20 on the yarn to make them.

I consider darning worthwhile, because for just an hour of your time, it is like you knit a new pair of socks!

These are the same socks (Rosa’s Socks, in Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock) back when they were new. The picture at the top of the post was the heel last night. I found a good darning tutorial here, then got out my great-grandmother’s darning mushroom and went at it.

And now I have one of my favourite pairs of handknit socks back!

This pair didn’t have any actual holes, just incredibly worn spots. See-through spots. I did the entire bottom of the heel, and a little patch on one side of the bottom of the toes. Why one side only? I don’t know. I do know I’m looking forward to wearing these socks again, after they’ve been out of commission for so long!

Next for the mushroom block are my Jaywalkers, which also just have thin spots. After that, I’ve got holes. My Monkey socks have small holes, and the Vinnlands have giant holes, so the Vs will go last, once I’ve got the technique down. It was easy doing the thin spots, you’re just duplicate stitching over what is there.

I’m on a new show now, and needed new backstage knitting. While act 1 is busy for me, act two is very boring, as most people are on stage the whole time, leaving me nothing to do and no one to talk to.

I needed the pattern to be pretty simple, as I am knitting in the semi-dark, and I need to be able to put it down quickly if stuff comes up. I had to decide between my two current favourite skeins of sock yarn in the stash, but I ended up choosing Socks that Rock lightweight in ‘The Incredible Shrinking Violet’.

I can’t remember if I posted about it, but Blue Moon sent me this skein by accident! I have never used their yarn before, although I did put my name on the list for this year’s sock club, but pulled out because it was just too much money. Apparently there was some sort of glitch in the system that sent this package out to me (I think it was May? April?). I did let them know, and they let me keep it!

Back to the pattern, which is the free Circle Socks pattern. It’s fun and textured, but nice and easy too. It is also doing some cool things with the STR, which I almost always see pooling in people’s projects. I think hand-dyed yarns look so great in reverse stockingette, so I just love this pattern.