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#1
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Knitting a Patch
I know this isn't a knitting forum, but I'm hoping some of you can help me. My editor insisted I change the name of the next Betsy Devonshire book, which I was calling The Needle Case. After some toing and froing we came up with Darned If You Do. It's cute but now I have to add a scene where a sock gets darned. I've been looking at tutorials on the 'Net, and have written what I think is an accurate description. If you are interested, please read this and let me know if it's okay. Let me know if I'm stepping way out of line with this. If not, thank you very, very much!
Betsy went back to Crewel World to find Godwin deeply immersed in teaching a young woman to darn a hand knit sock. It looked like a sock from one of his knitting classes. The sock, a bright orange with small black diamonds, was bulging smoothly over a small hole in the heel. Ah, he's using a darning egg, thought Betsy. The smooth wooden implements came in various sizes and shapes - some more like a computer mouse than an egg. It was generally the truly egg-shaped that had handles on them. They slipped inside socks or the arms and even the backs of sweaters that had worn or torn a hole in themselves. It made mending them easier by freeing both hands for the work and by preventing the stitcher from stitching the front onto the back. There's something satisfying about mending a hand made garment, she thought.. Ours is a throw-away society, it's good to push back against that once in awhile. Godwin did not glance up. He had threaded a darning needle appropriate to the thickness of the yarn used to knit the stocking. The yarn he was threading was a bright orange to match the area where a hole had worn through. "And now I take some of the leftover yarn from your stocking, which you wisely kept per my advice, and note I cut a length of it longer than you might think you'll need, because it's ever so easy to cut the extra off than try to pick up and continue with a new length." "Okay," she said, nodding. Without changing tone or looking around, Godwin said, "Hello, Betsy. Valentina called, she's going to stop by in a little while. Now, have you done duplicate stitch before?" The young woman said, doubtfully, "I've looked at it on the Internet, and so I understand the theory of it, but I've never tried it. Is it as easy as it looks?" "Nothing is as easy as it looks. So okay, before I start, you knitted this sock using four double ended needles, and there's a way to patch this hole using them, size double zero. Would you rather do that?" The young woman rested her chin and cheek in the palm of her hand, while she thought, but then said, "I don't know. I mean, I really don't know. Which do you prefer?" "Honestly? I like duplicate stitch if the place is only worn thin. If there's an actual hole, then I like darning with double zero needles." "Fine." She turned to Betsy. "I'll take a set of double zeros, please." "That's great, Molly." Betsy brought a packaged set of four to the desk. Molly opened the package and gave the needles to Godwin. He took one and said, "First, find the first row below the hole that has no damage. You're looking for strong, solid stitching." He pointed the row out and began carefully working across the row, starting about half an inch to one side of the hole, lifting a single stitch and running the needle through it. He continued across the row to half an inch the other side of the hole. "See?" he said. "Gotcha," Molly replied. "Now, from the farthest left hand picked-up stitch, run up that column with another needle, picking up each stitch, beside the hole to a solid row above it." He did so, his fingers moving nimbly, while she watched. "You do that so smoothly," she said. "Lots of experience," he said. "I'm always wearing a hole in my socks, though it's usually at the toe." He leaned a little sideways and murmured, "I have such sharp toenails." Molly giggled. "Now, run the third needle up the right side, same as you do on the left. At this point you've got that old hole practically surrounded." "Except at the top," Molly pointed out. "Yes, well, we'll take care of that as we approach. So, you take your fourth needle, and a matching yarn, or some left over from the sock lesson, and you verrrry carefully pick up that first stitch on the bottom row and the first stitch on the right vertical row, and you knit the two of them together with the strand of yarn. Like so." He deftly picked up the stitches onto the free needle and knit them into the strand of yarn. "Now, continue across that row to the other side." In a few minutes he said, "And now we turn and purl our way back, picking up that first stitch from the vertical needles, so we're tacking it down on either side. You see? We're knitting a patch over the hole." "Well, isn't that clever!" "Yes, it is." Godwin purled his way back, then handed over the sock with its needles. "Here, you knit a row while I watch." Molly set out, moving slowly as she felt her way into the knitting. "I'm not used to such tiny needles," she said. "But look, it's coming along." She purled the next row, this time without her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth, her movement quicker and smoother. "Wow," she said. "This isn't hard at all!" "Tol'ja," said Godwin. "As you get near the top, pull the bottom needle out and thread it across the top, then knit the last row onto it." "Yeah, yeah, that makes sense." "So now you know you don't have to throw away a pair of socks you worked so hard making just because you blew a hole in one of them. Come back in the fall, I'm teaching a class on duplicate stitching which you can use to prevent a weak spot in a sock or sweater or hat from turning into a hole." "All right, I will. Thanks, Goddy!" |
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#2
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Knitting a Patch
I will go through this tomorrow. Do you realize we Brownies, back in England in the 1940s, had to darn a sock to pass a badge??? I remember along with that was to make a bed, and make a cup of tea. (No teabags). LOL Sheena will remember. Gillian...certainly telling my age ! On 3/8/2014 6:45 PM, Monica Ferris wrote: I know this isn't a knitting forum, but I'm hoping some of you can help me. My editor insisted I change the name of the next Betsy Devonshire book, which I was calling The Needle Case. After some toing and froing we came up with Darned If You Do. It's cute but now I have to add a scene where a sock gets darned. I've been looking at tutorials on the 'Net, and have written what I think is an accurate description. If you are interested, please read this and let me know if it's okay. Let me know if I'm stepping way out of line with this. If not, thank you very, very much! Betsy went back to Crewel World to find Godwin deeply immersed in teaching a young woman to darn a hand knit sock. It looked like a sock from one of his knitting classes. The sock, a bright orange with small black diamonds, was bulging smoothly over a small hole in the heel. Ah, he's using a darning egg, thought Betsy. The smooth wooden implements came in various sizes and shapes - some more like a computer mouse than an egg. It was generally the truly egg-shaped that had handles on them. They slipped inside socks or the arms and even the backs of sweaters that had worn or torn a hole in themselves. It made mending them easier by freeing both hands for the work and by preventing the stitcher from stitching the front onto the back. There's something satisfying about mending a hand made garment, she thought. Ours is a throw-away society, it's good to push back against that once in awhile. Godwin did not glance up. He had threaded a darning needle appropriate to the thickness of the yarn used to knit the stocking. The yarn he was threading was a bright orange to match the area where a hole had worn through. "And now I take some of the leftover yarn from your stocking, which you wisely kept per my advice, and note I cut a length of it longer than you might think you'll need, because it's ever so easy to cut the extra off than try to pick up and continue with a new length." "Okay," she said, nodding. Without changing tone or looking around, Godwin said, "Hello, Betsy. Valentina called, she's going to stop by in a little while. Now, have you done duplicate stitch before?" The young woman said, doubtfully, "I've looked at it on the Internet, and so I understand the theory of it, but I've never tried it. Is it as easy as it looks?" "Nothing is as easy as it looks. So okay, before I start, you knitted this sock using four double ended needles, and there's a way to patch this hole using them, size double zero. Would you rather do that?" The young woman rested her chin and cheek in the palm of her hand, while she thought, but then said, "I don't know. I mean, I really don't know. Which do you prefer?" "Honestly? I like duplicate stitch if the place is only worn thin. If there's an actual hole, then I like darning with double zero needles." "Fine." She turned to Betsy. "I'll take a set of double zeros, please." "That's great, Molly." Betsy brought a packaged set of four to the desk. Molly opened the package and gave the needles to Godwin. He took one and said, "First, find the first row below the hole that has no damage. You're looking for strong, solid stitching." He pointed the row out and began carefully working across the row, starting about half an inch to one side of the hole, lifting a single stitch and running the needle through it. He continued across the row to half an inch the other side of the hole. "See?" he said. "Gotcha," Molly replied. "Now, from the farthest left hand picked-up stitch, run up that column with another needle, picking up each stitch, beside the hole to a solid row above it." He did so, his fingers moving nimbly, while she watched. "You do that so smoothly," she said. "Lots of experience," he said. "I'm always wearing a hole in my socks, though it's usually at the toe." He leaned a little sideways and murmured, "I have such sharp toenails." Molly giggled. "Now, run the third needle up the right side, same as you do on the left. At this point you've got that old hole practically surrounded." "Except at the top," Molly pointed out. "Yes, well, we'll take care of that as we approach. So, you take your fourth needle, and a matching yarn, or some left over from the sock lesson, and you verrrry carefully pick up that first stitch on the bottom row and the first stitch on the right vertical row, and you knit the two of them together with the strand of yarn. Like so." He deftly picked up the stitches onto the free needle and knit them into the strand of yarn. "Now, continue across that row to the other side." In a few minutes he said, "And now we turn and purl our way back, picking up that first stitch from the vertical needles, so we're tacking it down on either side. You see? We're knitting a patch over the hole." "Well, isn't that clever!" "Yes, it is." Godwin purled his way back, then handed over the sock with its needles. "Here, you knit a row while I watch." Molly set out, moving slowly as she felt her way into the knitting. "I'm not used to such tiny needles," she said. "But look, it's coming along." She purled the next row, this time without her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth, her movement quicker and smoother. "Wow," she said. "This isn't hard at all!" "Tol'ja," said Godwin. "As you get near the top, pull the bottom needle out and thread it across the top, then knit the last row onto it." "Yeah, yeah, that makes sense." "So now you know you don't have to throw away a pair of socks you worked so hard making just because you blew a hole in one of them. Come back in the fall, I'm teaching a class on duplicate stitching which you can use to prevent a weak spot in a sock or sweater or hat from turning into a hole." "All right, I will. Thanks, Goddy!" |
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Knitting a Patch
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#4
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Knitting a Patch
Nyssa wrote:
Nyssa, who has a wooden darning egg with handle around here somewhere I also used those L'eggs pantyhose eggs for that purpose. Regrettably, L'eggs now come in boring cardboard boxes. Wish I'd saved more of the eggs...... I learned the way Sheena describes, to weave a darn. After all, heels and toes of socks should be hidden inside your shoes at all times, so beauty was less important than functionality. Another single-layer heel would simply wear through as quickly as the original, whereas something darned with multiple layers of yarn woven through each other would last longer. -- Karen C - California Editor/Proofreader/Translator www.IntlProofingConsortium.com Finished 3/6/14 -- peacock from www.aflembroidery.com WIP: Stitchers Days of Christmas http://www.crossstitchjoy.com/catalo...oducts_id=3865 Nativity from "Countdown to Christmas" book, Oriental Kimono (Janlynn), MLI The Teacher (gift to the library), Bethany Angel (Marbek) Retrieved from UFO pile: Marbek's Snow Angel, MLI Farmers Market www.CFSfacts.org -- where we give you the facts and dispel the myths Myths, with research cites: http://www.aacfs.org/images/pdfs/myths.pdf COPYRIGHT 2014 -- PERMISSION GIVEN TO POST ON USENET AND GOOGLE GROUPS NEWSREADER ONLY, BUT IF FOUND ON TWITTER OR SEWGIRLS/INSPIREPOINT, IT HAS BEEN REPUBLISHED WITHOUT MY PERMISSION WHICH CONSTITUTES ILLEGAL COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT |
#5
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Knitting a Patch
The passage looks good to me. When the student gets to the top of the patch, she is going to have to graft it to the original knitting. Grafting is duplicate stitch over stitches that aren't there. But the viewpoint character left before the lesson got that far, so there's no need to worry about it. I always use interlocking rows of buttonhole stitch http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/~roughsewing/PVENISED.HTM, but I think that that is somewhat unusual. (My theory is that woven darns on socks got established when people darned so many woven fabrics that they could make a woven darn work on *anything*.) When I get a hole in the toe of a sock, I rip the entire toe off, pick up the stitches, and re-knit the same way I did the first time. There is a ripple where new stitches spring from old, flattened stitches that never blocks out. I use duplicate stitch only on very small patches of damage, or very valuable garments. If there is anything at all left of the original stitches, duplicate stitch hardly requires instruction: Just cover up the existing yarn. (Magnifying glasses help.) If the garment is *really* valuable, I will use a separate piece of yarn for every row of duplicate stitch, and break the yarn by pulling out individual fibers so that there isn't any clear end. The last bit that won't work in a needle can be tucked in with a crochet hook. -- joy beeson at comcast dot net http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/ The above message is a Usenet post. I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site. |
#6
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Knitting a Patch
Not trying to complicate things, but with needlework I would have thought of using pattern darning before sock darning.
Many needlepointers are using pattern darning patterns as backgrounds on hand painted canvas pieces these days:-) Happy Stitching, Donna in Virginia |
#7
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Knitting a Patch
On 3/9/2014 6:23 AM, wrote:
I didn't learn to darn this way - I was taught with a decorative wooden mushroom - you used a 'darning' needle (so called because the eye was generous enough to accommodate threading wool through it) and you first made lines of yarn back and forth one way across the hole. Then turn the mushroom and weave, over and under those threads. I'm not as "mature" as Sheena & Gill, but my mom taught me this way, too. Mom didn't have anything as fancy as a darning egg, though. She used a lightbulb in the sock instead! I actually darned a few of DH's socks when we first got married! Aaah, memories! lol -- Joan See my pictures he http://ndjoan.shutterfly.com/pictures If worries can cure your sickness, prolong your life, or replace happiness, then go ahead and worry! If they can't, why worry? Enjoy every moment of your life...there is no second chance. Unknown |
#8
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Knitting a Patch
On 10/03/2014 16:17, Joan Erickson wrote:
On 3/9/2014 6:23 AM, wrote: I didn't learn to darn this way - I was taught with a decorative wooden mushroom - you used a 'darning' needle (so called because the eye was generous enough to accommodate threading wool through it) and you first made lines of yarn back and forth one way across the hole. Then turn the mushroom and weave, over and under those threads. I'm not as "mature" as Sheena & Gill, but my mom taught me this way, too. Mom didn't have anything as fancy as a darning egg, though. She used a lightbulb in the sock instead! I actually darned a few of DH's socks when we first got married! Aaah, memories! lol Since we were using gas lights we did not have any light bulbs. A clenched up fist was pushed in the sock to be darned. As a young girl we lived in a small village and the only way my mother could get to the "Women's Institute" meetings was to take me with her. I used to collect all the "Make do and Mend leaflets" issued during W11. One was for darning which I used to learn to darn. Another was how to patch putting a patch on both sides of the of the tear in fabric. I have a Bakelite darning mushroom with the dome. When the darning was done the darn was a hump that went after the first washing. In fact during the war often the socks were more darns than original knitting. In my collection of old needlework tools I also have a gadget that was used for weaving the darn. When new it cost two shillings and sixpence. I have not attempted to use it. We also used to use small round flat tins pushed in the socks with the hole on top of the tin lid. Then using the warp and weft method of weaving neatly catching in the edges of the holes. Hanks of darning wool was bought but they had the ends cut so we could not use them for knitting, since knitting wool had to be bought using precious clothing coupons. Hope you enjoyed my trip down memory lane I would have been about 8 years old then. Hugs Shirley -- Shirley www.allcrafts.org.uk |
#9
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Knitting a Patch
On Sunday, March 9, 2014 1:45:38 AM UTC+2, Monica Ferris wrote:
Monica Best of Luck with the New book !!!! We learned to darn on a `Darning Mushroom` [if you never saw one , i found some examples on http://www.ebay.com/bhp/darning-mushroom I still got an old that was My Husband`s grand Ma. When we did not have one ready we used a turned small drinking cup .. Ah, he's using a darning egg, thought Betsy. The smooth wooden implements came in various sizes and shapes - some more like a computer mouse than an egg. It was generally the truly egg-shaped that had handles on them. They slipped inside socks or the arms and even the backs of sweaters that had worn or torn a hole in themselves. It made mending them easier by freeing both hands for the work and by preventing the stitcher from stitching the front onto the back. We always held the the sock tightly with one hand and mended with the other , never saw or heard anybody who had 2 free hands to mend ,,, There's something satisfying about mending a hand made garment, she thought. Ours is a throw-away society, it's good to push back against that once in awhile THE TREND Now is mending repairing reusing recycling Godwin did not glance up. He had threaded a darning needle appropriate to the thickness of the yarn used to knit the stocking. The yarn he was threading was a bright orange to match the area where a hole had worn through. EXCELLENT "And now I take some of the leftover yarn from your stocking, which you wisely kept per my advice, and note I cut a length of it longer than you might think you'll need, because it's ever so easy to cut the extra off than try to pick up and continue with a new length." EXCELLENT iF HE IS KNITTING THE PATCH THERE IS NO NEED TO HOLD A DARNING EGG OR MUSHROOM INSIDE THE SOCK IN FACT IT WILL HINDER THE KNITTING mirjam |
#10
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Knitting a Patch
On Sunday, March 9, 2014 5:19:51 PM UTC+2, Nyssa wrote:
if it was a `hole` we wove over it , if it was a thined place we embroidered over the original stitches ,,, in a manner that looked like knitting. mirjam |
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