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# Learning to darn a sock
- URL: https://almanac.ghostcms.templates.codememory.com/learning-to-darn-a-sock/
- Published: 2025-06-22T07:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-06-22T07:30:00.000Z
- Description: A needle, some wool and my grandmother's darning mushroom. Simple, calming and slightly addictive.
- Author: Inès Laurent
- Tags: Mending, Learning, #evergreen, #Import 2026-10-02 18:03

I own eleven pairs of wool socks, and until last winter, when a hole appeared in the heel, the sock went in the bin. Then my grandmother's darning mushroom turned up in a box from my mother's attic, and I decided it was time to learn. Darning, it turns out, is simple, calming and slightly addictive.

## What darning is

Darning is weaving a new patch of fabric into a hole, using a needle and thread. You make lines of thread across the hole in one direction, then weave over and under them in the other direction, like a tiny loom. ((The word "darn" is old and nobody is quite sure where it comes from. My favourite theory is that it is related to an old word for hiding.)) Done well, it is stronger than the original fabric.

![Darning wool in small skeins. I chose colours that do not match, on purpose.](https://almanac.ghostcms.templates.codememory.com/content/images/2026/10/darn-wool.jpg)

Darning wool in small skeins. I chose colours that do not match, on purpose.

## What you need

1. A darning needle: long, blunt, with a big eye.
2. Wool, roughly the same thickness as the sock.
3. Something round to stretch the fabric over. A mushroom is traditional; a light bulb or an orange also works.
4. Good light, and about half an hour.

## The method

First, stretch the hole over the mushroom so the fabric is smooth but not tight. Then sew a line of small running stitches in a circle around the hole, about a centimetre outside it, to strengthen the edge.

Now make the warp: long stitches across the hole, side to side, close together, reaching into the good fabric on each side. Turn the sock ninety degrees and weave the weft: over one, under one, all the way across, then back the other way, over where you went under before. Keep going until the hole is filled.

![Three socks, three darns. The one on the left was my first, and it shows.](https://almanac.ghostcms.templates.codememory.com/content/images/2026/10/darn-socks.jpg)

Three socks, three darns. The one on the left was my first, and it shows.

> A darned sock is a record of a winter: where you walked, and who looked after your feet.

## Visible mending

I started by trying to match the colours, so the darn would disappear. It never did. So now I do the opposite: bright orange on grey socks, green on blue. Visible mending, people call it. It turns a hole into a small decoration, and every darn reminds me of the evening I made it.

🧦

Darn small holes early. A hole the size of a pea takes ten minutes. A hole the size of a coin takes an hour.

## Why it matters to me

Darning is the opposite of most of my days. It is slow, quiet and impossible to do while looking at a phone. It needs both hands and your full attention, but not your thinking, so the mind wanders in a good way. I now save holes for Sunday evenings, the way some people save a good film.

And it changed how I see my clothes. A sock is no longer something that wears out. It is something that can be looked after.

#### Can I darn things other than socks?

Yes: jumpers, gloves, elbows of cardigans. Anything knitted or woven.

#### What if I make it lumpy?

Your first darns will be lumpy. They will also be warm and they will last. The lumps get smaller.