Wool socks

I love my wool socks, and now that winter is here, my hand knit socks are getting a lot of wear. If you buy sock yarn from a store, it usually contains 75% wool, and 25% nylon. The nylon is there to increase the durability of the socks. It's very effective and none of the socks I've made from sock yarn have worn through.

I did, however, make a couple of pairs of socks out of pure wool. They are a little thicker, and a really cushy and warm. I'm a fan of natural fibers and I'm especially fond of my all wool socks. But last spring, I noticed that one sock of each of the two pairs has a hole in the foot.


This one is a sock I made from sheeples yarm. Sadness! Unfortunately I'm not one for mending/darning. I remember at some point hearing about a work-around (though I don't remember where) and I thought it was worth a try.

First, I found some roving that matched my sock (it works with yarn too). Then I dug out my needlefelting tool (with sharp, barbed needles!).


The felting tool has a brush to lay the fabric over and poke the needles into. So I pulled my sock onto it.


Then I laid the roving over the hole and needlefelted it in place. I put several layers over the whole and made sure it was well secured.



Tada! Socks fixed!!! :)




So much easier than darning! And the roving matches so well, you can bare tell (look at the ball of my foot, you can see the patch).

In other news I've been doing some spinning...


Corriedale pencil roving on a holly Jay


Merino top on my myrtlewood standard turkish.


Targhee on my maple Turkish Delight. Very sproingy fibre.


Qiviut on a russian (bottom left) and baby camel/merino on a tibetan (top left). mmmmmm... I am true loving supported spindling.

Ok... now back to schoolwork....