Tuesday, April 15, 2014

M ~ Mending

The day following laundry day used to be a day I dreaded. Every article of clothing had been inspected while being folded the previous day and anything that needed a little bit of mending was placed on a pile to be tackled the next day.

As a little girl I was responsible for replacing any missing buttons on the shirts and pants, while Mom hand stitched patches on the little boys pants, there seemed to never be a week that there weren't holes worn in the knees on a few pair.

The worst of the mending was darning the socks. A light bulb was inserted into the sock that was then stretched over it. A big darning needle and some yarn and we set to work weaving a patch to close the hole in the heels or toes of the socks.

It wasn't fun breaking in a newly darned sock either. The little yarn knots were annoying at the least, more often they could get quite painful depending where they were situated.

16 comments:

  1. Hi...I stumbled on your blog through the A to Z challenge and was so intrigued by your theme that I went back and read all your letter posts so far. Your blog is a joy.
    ~Katie
    www.thecyborgmom.blogspot.com

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  2. Your A-Z posts have been my favorite. I have enjoyed learning more about the Amish. Thank you so much for sharing.

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  3. The closest I get to darning socks is when I look at the hole in the heel and say "Darn! Gotta buy a coupla more pairs". A sad commentary on our disposable society, I know.

    Loving the A to Z month!

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  4. What a great post, that is something that I have never thought about... I go through a lot of socks, but I always reuse them (after they get washed of course) as rags in the garage or studio. Mending them seems like a good practice to save items from the landfill, but I'm sure it is dreadful job. Thanks for sharing!

    ~Mr.McLovin at Fuel For The Furnace

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  5. You tied knots in your darning? No wonder they were uncomfortable! With so many layers of thread overlapping each other in the darning, there's no need to tie a knot at beginning or end. The rest of the stitches just act like a tailor's tack or that thing where you weave the ends in when embroidering.

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  6. Mending!! So many people don't do that anymore. Just throw them away and get something new. My Grandma taught me to darn socks when I was small and a friend gave me a darning egg he made for me that is beautiful. I never tie knots either, just make a back and forth forth grid pattern.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  7. I can barely sew on a button without make a mess of it. I sometimes wish I had more practical skills, like sewing and cooking.

    Madeline @ The Shellshank Redemption
    Minion, Capt. Alex's Ninja Minion Army
    The 2014 Blogging from A-Z Challenge

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  8. I agree with Betsy, mending seems to be a dying art.
    I never thought about using a light bulb while mending socks, but that's a great idea :)

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  9. What memories. I only darned a sock in Girl Scouts--that was enough! However when my boys were growing up it seems I always had a pile of mending to do. I do miss those days. :-) Thanks for the comment on my blog--how wonderful to discover yours!

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  10. Hello!
    And thank you for visiting me. : )
    I am so very happy to meet you, and follow along here!
    Have a cozy evening...

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  11. I'm afraid that mending is a lost art. I still mend things but I don't think my daughters do. Most of the time when something needs repair it gets thrown away. I would never mend socks but I think our society try mending more.

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  12. Thanks so much for dropping by my blog for now I have discovered yours. Love your theme. I read all your posts for the AtoZ. So interesting. Blog bookmarked. I'll be back.

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  13. I continue to love picturing a community of people doing what you describe. I have a friend who wishes she was raised Amish because all the things you talk about, she'd love to spend her time doing, rather than all the running around and craziness she hates about her life. Such a far stretch from modern and mainstream society though, it seems like you'd have to be born Amish to live that way. Thank you so much for your stories.

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  14. I used to darn socks, and rather enjoyed it. I wouldn't mind darning The Squire's socks now, but I can't remember when I last saw darning thread in the stores. I think I would rather make an entire garment from scratch than mend things. They do eventually get mended, an sometimes even before they get outgrown!

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  15. I love darning socks! Don't ask me why, but I always have. Anything else gets passed off to my daughter and her sewing machine.

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  16. I am reading all your posts back to back. So much fun to learn of an Amish culture.

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment. I love hearing your thoughts.