Does anyone darn anything these days?

I was shown how to darn when I was young, by my mother. I never had much cause to use this skill till this evening. I have a pair of oven gloves made out of woven cotton string which I have been trying to replace without success for a couple of years, so I decided to have a go darning them with cotton kitchen string that I happened to have already. I am pretty pleased with the result and there is many more years of life left in them (they have lasted about 20 years so far). Frugal? moi? well maybe just a bit.

Darn? Nah, but I do Damn things sometimes when I get pissed off...

I was taught how to darn while I was a Brownie in Canada so I must have been about 5 years old!!!!!! Recently, I attempted to darn a hole in a pair of my most favorite heavy wool socks. Took me a while to find a normal light bulb to use as a support (everything now is eco bulbs with the curly bulbs). After a few attempts I managed to complete the job and I'm hoping for another winter out of the socks. I like to think I'm frugal as well Kai, not a person who has gorse in their pockets as to which the Biscuit King refers to me as when it comes to saving money!!!!

kai;415488 wrote: Frugal? moi? well maybe just a bit.

That would be me as well! I only darn socks. Good ones, like the DS and DH's wool work socks. I've darned a few other things now and again over the years. I used to have a darning egg given me by my grandmother (the one who taught me to darn), but it's been lost in our many moves over the years.

I have a pair of Josef Seibel shoes that I got when my son, who will be 20 in a month, was a week old. Over the years they have only been re-soled once, but they still fit well and are comfortable. They've been relegated to farm shoes, as there are a couple of wholes in the leather now, but they are awesome shoes. I'll probably retire them in a few years.... :rolleyes:

My husband does.

I don't know how to 'darn' properly but I can sew things up, untidily if pushed.

My husband also knows how to use the sewing machine, to him it's just another piece of engineering.

I don't know how to darn, but my husband often asks me if I'm going to darn his socks... in a bit of a joking manner but if I could and they were wool ones I certainly would because I hate the price of socks and the fact they seem to get holes too easily!

What yarn should one use for darning? There used to be a wooden darning mushroom in my mother's sewing chest, but I've no idea when nor where that went. I've darned socks at times in the last few years, but the rubber in the back of the gumboots where the fabric wears off, is hard on socks!

It depends whether you want an invisible darn or not!
Ideally, the weight or thickness of the yarn should be similar to that in the garment being darned so you don't end up with a lump.

If you have a similar colour, use it, but for work socks, it doesn't really matter!

I meant rather that wool won't wear well in darning socks. I had some old labelled darning wool somewhere once, but there was no breakdown of its makeup. I presume it had some nylon in it.

ha ha .. no not socks.. but i do running repairs on the hand knits that the bleeding moths got at!

for those who don't know how to darn you weave in a patch to the whole, so you are not stitching the sides together, but inserting a new piece. I must admit I have never used a mushroom to darn, but if it were socks, no doubt it would make things easier. I like the idea of a light bulb as a substitute though

and here I was thinking darn was just another way of saying damn

I see what you mean regarding the type of yarn. Many bought work socks are made of a wool nylon mix or (yuk)acrylic. The Nylon is in the mix to help reduce the wear, so a wool nylon mix will wear at the same rate as the sock, but faster in high wear areas such as the heel when worn in in gumboots[}]

If you use a higher percentage of nylon it will wear slower, but also won't be as comfortable.

My mother has a proper wooden darning mushroom but my dad's mum always used her big old fashioned electric torch. I would have thought that the small radius curve of a light bulb would make the job a little difficult to say the least.
I don't usually bother to wear socks in gumboots.

Ewwwwwww - I will ALWAYS wear socks in gumboots - slows down the stinky foot smell...

As far as a darning mushroom?.. We always had a dried lemon - just let the lemon dry out and get really really hard - and you have a beautiful 'darning lemon' to use for many years - Mother has had hers for about 40 years - same one!!! Mine is only about 15 years old, and is going strong!!!