Darning socks

[Rye Miles #13621]

When we got a hole in our socks my mom would get out the sewing box and sew the hole. 
Does anyone do that anymore? 
I have a few with holes, I’m thinking I should darn em!

 

https://www.bobvila.com/articles/how-to-darn-a-sock/

[Cypress Sun]

 

Not me. By the time my socks get holes in them, they're done anyway...garbage time.

[Tex Wilson]

I have a sock with a hole, darn it!

[J-BAR #18287]

Sis and I helped Mom darn socks in the days before TV.  The radio was on all the time.  
 

Now, holey socks go in the rag bag (if clean) or the trash.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

Ya need a darning egg.  

      

Grandma just used a small light bulb.  

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

I did in the army, haven’t in the 66 years since. Gave my darner to a sewing friend who collects things.

[Michigan Slim]

Dad did his. Used a light bulb. I've suggested to my wife that a sock needed sewed up. Find them gone a bit later. 

[Subdeacon Joe]

I've done it a couple of times with heavy wool socks.  The socks that come in a bag, 6 pairs for $10 (or whatever the current price is), get tossed.  Or used for car wash rags.  

[MizPete]

I also use a light bulb (I find my inherited darning egg too small).  Your link provides good instructions, but if you are not comfortable with steps 4 & 5 (the reweaving part) you can just close the hole by doing step 4 (across the hole) & pulling the sides together.  Make sure you're working on the outside of the sock or the resulting seam will be uncomfortable against your foot.

[Pat Riot]

I have Damned some socks for not be warm as advertised. That’s a step up from Darning them. Do I win?

 

[Rye Miles #13621]

25 minutes ago, Pat Riot said:

I have Damned some socks for not be warm as advertised. That’s a step up from Darning them. Do I win?

 

Yes you win a needle and a roll of thread! Congratulations 

[Trigger Mike]

My wife darns mine sometimes 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

I still have a darning egg, but use it most it to help with other things.  It's great for patching thin leather or buskin.

[Pat Riot]

I darned one sock when I was in the Navy. After standing a 4 hour quarterdeck watch with that little knot of sock and thread pressing against the tip of mug big toe. My toe hurt for a week after that. 
Some beer money went for new socks afterwards. 

[Three Foot Johnson]

I went to visit an old neighbor several years ago who has since passed on, and when I walked in, he was sitting in his recliner darning his socks. I said, "Hey Dewey, whatcha doin'?" 

"Darning my socks."

"What?? You know you can go to the store and get a half dozen for $8.99?"

"Oh no, have you priced good wool socks lately?"

"Well, no, but... wait a minute, those aren't wool socks."

"Nope, but they will be when I'm through."

 

[Erasmus]

when I was growing up if I got a hole in my sock my mom or dad would toss me an orange, say "you know where the sewing stuff is", and left me alone to fix my socks. I have better socks these days and generally get fewer holes, but still something to remember.

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

When I wrote of Sheriff Willamina darning socks in the school hallway while her young were at band practice, that wasn't just that pale eyed Sheriff ... that was a memory from my Mama.

She'd unfold a tin chair and set up shop in the hall, she'd bring her sewing bag and she'd patch jeans or darn socks, and the guys were just FASCINATED at watching this Woman's Magic!

She had a polished maple darning egg, her fingers had eyes, she'd be reweaving across a hole in a heel and chatting happily ... the guys would stop and loaf companionably against the wall, "Hi, Mom, what'cha doin'?"

(She was always Mom. Not "Mrs. Keller." Always "Mom.")

She'd look up with that smile of hers and she'd say "I'm patching knees" or "darning socks" or "sewing on a button," and the guys would be FASCINATED.

Their own mothers did not sew.

This was something they never saw in their own families.

Watching mystic passes of her magical, shining steel sewing wand, guided by a mother's skilled and supernatural fingers, was genuinely a delight for them.

And for mom.

She delighted in being "Mom" to those rough, tough, broad shouldered, testosterone fueled young bucks who just melted when she looked up and smiled with a mother's gentleness, while her fingers wove woman's magic across a hole in the heel of a sock.