Mending Socks

An earlier version of this tutorial was previously published on Think Crafts!

Have a hole in your beautiful hand knit sock? Don’t panic, it can be fixed.

Difficulty Level
Medium

Materials
Yarn needle
Thread

Directions

You could use some of the original sock yarn to repair your hole if you saved some. I still had some leftover yarn but as you can see in the photo below my socks had really faded. I decided to go with white thread instead so the repair would be less noticeable.

The key to fixing holes is to catch them when they’re small. If a stitch breaks free it can unravel and can cause a large hole. In that case you’ll need to use a crochet hook to rework the stitch up the dropped rows. Since my hole was relatively small I could skip this step. To start, I knotted my thread on the inside of the sock.

Next I used my yarn needle to draw the thread through the stitch on the top and bottom of the hole nearest my needle.

I worked my way across the hole, weaving the needle through the disconnected stitches on the top and bottom to draw them back together with the thread.

Once all the way across I inspected the hole. It had closed up considerably but there was still a gap. I then worked the needle back across, this time from right to left. I followed the direction of the sock yarn so my thread would mimic a stitch, drawing the hole closed.

The stitches are back together! Time to knot off the thread.

Try on the sock to inspect the work.

These socks were knit with superwash yarn. However, after I repair a hole I always handwash the knitwear instead. A hole means the socks are starting to age and I want them to last as long as possible. Handwashing is much gentler than a washing machine.

One more repair pic:

Craft on!