# Village of the Darned . . . socks **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** arts-crafts\ **Created:** [April 2, 2021, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192 "2021-04-02T00:04:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/1 "2021-04-02T00:04:02Z")
I make a lot of my own socks, so no way I’m tossing them when they ascend to holeyness. I also have a pair rated for 30° below which I paid a chunk for. So my reaction to heels and toes poking through is not dammit, but _darn_it. My egg is a lightbulb, and more often than not I employ the spiderweb method. Anyone else? What’s your egg? Do you weave, spiderweb, or reknit? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/2 "2021-04-02T00:09:10Z")
I also have a few cherished hoodies poxed with darn scabs. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/3 "2021-04-02T11:46:07Z")
Hah. I just recently had a heel hole develop in a sock and was going to throw it away. I buy very generic looking socks, so I can toss one when needed. I decided to darn it, though. I have a sewing box and was looking for it around the house. My gf saw me and inquired as to why I was roaming the house, sock in hand. I told her my intentions. She grabbed the sock from me and walked away, muttering and shaking her head. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/4 "2021-04-02T15:01:27Z")
. . . never to be seen again? What happened next??? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/5 "2021-04-02T15:05:51Z")
She threw out the sock and told me if I had $$ problems she would buy me some socks. She doesn’t know how to sew. She once took a jacket to a dry-cleaner/seamstress to have a button sewed on, rather than ask me to do it. 🧦 ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/6 "2021-04-02T15:13:25Z")
Darning a sock is a therapeutic activity. Meditative, alpha-wavey. And when you’re done you get a nice warm feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. It’s not a poverty thing. For myself I can always knit a new pair–another meditative and satisfying activity–but I’ll still darn a sock rather than toss it. If its a keeper. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/7 "2021-04-02T15:20:13Z")
I only darn if I am madly in love with the socks (like the blue ones with cashmere I knitted from a yarn called Casbah; lovely). Otherwise I follow the Yarn Harlot’s motto: when a sock gets a hole I say “darn it” and then drop it gently into the trash. But I really like knitting socks almost as much as I like buying sock yarn, so I am always glad to make another pair. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/8 "2021-04-02T19:26:45Z")
Another darning fan here, if the sock is good and I have appropriate darning material. I do not know this “spiderweb method” of which the OP speaks, I just do the usual “weave”. My one weird tip which is obvious to anybody with an IQ greater than an avocado’s is that darning sure is easier if you get to it while the hole is still very small. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/9 "2021-04-02T20:17:37Z")
I might have made it up. I go around the perimeter and string spokes across the hole. Then I spiral a satin stitch around this armature, from the center out. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/10 "2021-04-02T22:38:26Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > I go around the perimeter and string spokes across the hole. Then I spiral a satin stitch around this armature, from the center out. Oh, you mean a [woven wheel stitch](https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/working-woven-wheel-stitch-4080555)? ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/11 "2021-04-02T23:29:27Z")
I darn woolen hiking socks, which I wear probably 8 months of the year. And the woolen sweaters of which I have quite a collection. I use a wooden darning egg I found in an antique/junk shop long ago. Easy to find them on etsy etc. I have darning wool of various colors and a couple different darning needles. I go around the perimeter at least once and then weave. I also mend and patch my clothes and my husband’s. I think disposable clothes are an evil. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2021, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/12 "2021-04-03T01:31:54Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > never to be seen again? What happened next??? The gf or the sock? It is kinda important to know… ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2021, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/13 "2021-04-03T01:40:04Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I use a wooden darning egg I found in an antique/junk shop long ago. Easy to find them on etsy etc Jo-Ann’s the fabric store also sells wooden darning eggs-in their sewing notions department. They are also easy to find at estate sale type sales, even heirs cleaning out a house after a death having a garage sale. If there is a walker being sold, your chances are much better that you’ll find a darning egg—-and where is a darning egg is usually a button box, a real fun find. A person usually is of a certain age to have had one. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2021, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/14 "2021-04-03T01:55:03Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Oh, you mean a woven wheel stitch? Except i don’t woven it, i satin it ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2021, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/15 "2021-04-03T01:56:58Z")
I used to have a wooden egg, but then i didn’t, so i tried a lightbulb, and i will never go back to wood ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2021, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/16 "2021-04-03T01:59:50Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > I used to have a wooden egg, but then i didn’t If you lived at my house I’d blame the cats. I have only wood floors and that lovely wooden egg makes such a fascinating noise rolling under the couch, never to be seen again. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2021, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/17 "2021-04-03T20:56:44Z")
I stumble through crude, entirely untutored repair jobs on clothes that I’m not ready to part with yet. I’m not worried about creating works of art, particularly if it’s on the part of the sock that will never be visible or a crappy T-shirt suitable mostly for the gym and lounging about. Mom has said positive things about my efforts, although she was probably just being nice. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2021, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/18 "2021-04-03T21:09:41Z")
I am good at stitching things but do not often sew. I’ll put buttons on beloved jeans or jackets or will (very infrequently) paint or patch or modify clothes or shoes, trying to make them more interesting (and not always succeeding). But I leave zippers to the pros, and regrettably will usually toss holey socks rather than repairing them, even if I like them. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/19 "2021-04-04T01:14:01Z")
April 2020 nothing left to do but darn some socks. This 1st timer with a needle fixed her favorite socks! Forgot what I used for an egg!? [https://i.ibb.co/9qKWFwb/E4-E12-D36-FC5-E-4301-A91-A-1-C0649241474.png](https://i.ibb.co/9qKWFwb/E4-E12-D36-FC5-E-4301-A91-A-1-C0649241474.png) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/village-of-the-darned-socks/939192/20 "2021-04-04T03:59:07Z")
Nice! Also, this thread has inspired me to learn Swiss darning. Don’t have any sock holes worth trying it out on yet, though.