Darning
Welcome to Darning, episode 51 of The Ordinary Knitter, the knitting podcast that’s (mostly) about the projects. My name is Heather and I’m @theordknitter on Twitter, @theordinaryknitter on Instagram and @ordinaryknitting on Ravelry.
This week: March Basic pattern review, Pasadena Progress (is that a song title?) and darning. In the intro I mention being kind to wrists as I had planned to talk about that, but then I forgot. I’ll save it til next week. It’s more interesting than it sounds, but you’ll have to trust me on that til next week. I hope you like the new sound effect – I can’t take any responsibility for deafness or burst eardrums.
Ft knitting patterns
Ft knitting tutorials
- SKP and KSP Decreases–Tip of the Week 06 15 12
- Joining yarn on the purl side, yarn in right hand
- Three Needle Bind Off
- Attaching Buttons
Ft yarns
Darning
Handknits need that wee bit extra looking after, partly because of the natural materials which tend to be far more appealing to moths than man-made fibres, but also because if you’ve spend a little while making something and then enjoy wearing it, sooner or later it will show signs of wear, or of love. You’ll want to nip a hole in the bud, or even better strengthen the knitting when it’s begun to thin but hasn’t yet gone through. It’s much simpler to strengthen thinned knitting than darn an actual hole.
Darning has become a thing. Search on Instagram for the hashtag #darning – there’s nearly 10,000 photos, and that’s a lot of socks. I wanted the darning to be neat, partly to look nice (knitters pride, y’know) but also because I didn’t want it to be lumpy and rub on the heel. As I couldn’t put my hands on the rest of the loud lime 4ply (a Regia yarn I’ve linked to above) I used the remains of a 4ply I’d used to knit over-the-knee socks for a friend, King Cole Zig Zag, now discontinued. The results are okay, but it was tricky to achieve a really neat finish as the knitting has begun to felt. These socks are two-and-a-half years old and might be an early warning that the handknits are beginning to show their age. I’ll be keeping an eagle eye out for any others showing signs of strain and will keep trying to achieve a really neat darn.
Music credit:
“Carpe Diem” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/